PART I OF VII: First Word:
"Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing." (Luke 23:34)The first word spoken by Christ has everything to do with forgiveness. He, in the first place, went on this specific mission for our salvation; for us to be reunited with the Father Almighty.
Christ loved us so much that he asked his Father to forgive our sins without any hesitation. If we were the ones in his place, if we were the ones nailed to the cross without doing anything wrong to the people who did that to us, would we forgive them that easily? I bet we wouldn't.
But Jesus, our Savior, did it without thinking twice. That's how much he loves us.
It tells us that Jesus not only asks God the Father to forgive those "who do not know what they are doing" but with his loving mercy, sins of those who are conscious of what they are doing are also forgiven. They were also saved and reconciled with God in heaven.
In our life, how many times have we said sorry? Or have we forgotten to? Or consciously neglect to? Let's see. A thousand or more, right? I admit, I do it most of the time. I remember my Kuya's quoting of a Boys over Flowers line; "Not everything can be fixed by 'sorry'..." It goes like that. Pretty close.
You're lucky if the person even said sorry. But what if he didn't? A smirk the next meeting. Or damaging talks with people he's just about to meet. Ooh. Shame on us. We usually do those.
Admit it, even if people say sorry already, we still find it hard to forgive them. Why? "It hurts pa, eh.", "I was humiliated kaya!", "Maybe he would do it again.", "It's better this way.", and many other convenient excuses.
Ok, this part may seem comical, but it's fairly serious. Let's imagine every single sin done unto us is a ply of a used toilet tissue paper. Full of dirt, full of tears, or whatever it might contain. When a person does something to us, our heart is like the actual toilet. We throw the tissue to the toilet. What do we want to do next? Flush the toilet immediately to disperse the "eww-ness", dirt, or smell OR throw many more tissue papers to the toilet and when you decide to flush it, it would clog, and never will you be able to flush it until you "unclog" the toilet. Same-same as reality.
You throw away every single bit of hate and anger the moment you absorb it. So it doesn't pile up and find it hard to dispense itself someday. We might say it's hard to do because how could we when we were hurt much and they're still carrying that smug face saying "Haha, still irritated, aren't ya?" A small piece of advice: Just smile, But smile with real feelings. Think, "I'm smiling because I know I have forgiven you."
Maybe practically, it may seem like martyrdom. It isn't. You don't have to forgive every single sin done unto you. That's impossible. Unconditional love is good when it brings us good. It isn't easy to forgive, but forgiving and being forgiven is a lifetime process. And God is with us through it. Eventually, we would learn to forgive easily as we are forgiven by the Lord.
Father, forgive us for our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Help us to do this with ease and without guilt and hate. Help us to humble ourselves before you and before others. Help us to love and spread love among us. Help us become Your responsible servants through words, thoughts, and most especially, heavenly deeds for his glory and honor.
'Til the next. Adios for now. :]
God Bless.
Lux in Domino!
-CJ
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment