Daily Meditation - Sunday 7September 2008 - MENDING BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS AND PRIORITIES RE SUCH

[BarbaraTherese]

Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sunday Obligations

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Mass Readings & Meditation
Readings

What’s the best way to repair
a damaged relationship?

• Jesus offers his disciples spiritual freedom and power for restoring broken or injured relationships.
• Jesus makes clear that his followers should not tolerate a breach in relationships among themselves.
• Sin must be confronted and help must be offered to restore a damaged relationship.
  When relationships between brothers and sisters in the Lord are damaged, then we must spare no effort to help the brother or sister at fault to see their error and to get things right again.

Saint Augustine of Hippo comments on Jesus’ instruction: If someone has done you injury and you have suffered, what should be done? You have heard the answer already in today’s scripture: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.” If you fail to do so, you are worse than he is. He has done someone harm, and by doing harm he has stricken himself with a grievous wound.

Will you then completely disregard your brother’s wound? Will you simply watch him stumble and fall down? Will you disregard his predicament? If so, you are worse in your silence than he in his abuse.

Therefore, when any one sins against us, let us take great care, but not merely for ourselves. For it is a glorious thing to forget injuries. Just set aside your own injury, but do not neglect your brother’s wound. Therefore “go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone,” intent upon his amendment but sparing his sense of shame.

For it might happen that through defensiveness he will begin to justify his sin, and so you will have inadvertently nudged him still closer toward the very behavior you desire to amend. Therefore “tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother,” because he might have been lost, had you not spoken with him. [Sermon 82.7]
What can we learn from this passage about how to mend a damaged relationship? If you feel READ ON HERE

 

[Trishie]

Blessing and forgiveness

I forgive you, anyone who ever hurts or judges me. Will you forgive me? Will you forgive my faults that annoy you? Will you forgive what I am or what you judge me to be? Will you forgive my kindly meant mistakes?

In spirit, I kneel to ask forgiveness for good intentions gone awry. Perhaps you will not forgive or perhaps you will never inform me if you do forgive, yet I mean only kindness to others and to you. If I lose your friendship, I still love and pray for you and those with you.

I rejoice that some day I will die and never again make mistakes that cause others hurt. I take comfort that those who cannot forgive or understand my motives must do so then. Until then your judgements of me — as the person, you deem me or the wrong you believe of me—remain until God who loves us can speak some kindness and perhaps even some truth in your heart for me.

“I bless you. I bless your thoughts and feelings. I bless your family, I bless your ventures, and I bless your life.” The power of those words is God’s not mine. I only bless you in God’s name, for He loves you profoundly.

I forgive you, where there are things to forgive even if you never acknowledge them and or do not value me even enough to see them. How can I blame you? I place you in God’s care and ask His threefold blessing for you.

Dear Mother Mary, you surely felt devastated when you heard the children of other mothers were slaughtered because you gave birth to Jesus. Please intercede that I never be cause of hurt to anyone because of misunderstanding or the ill will of others.

 

[Trishie]

Forgiveness

How to ask forgiveness–
when one should have understood in gentle, forgiving silence?
Too much said instead, forfeiting trust, fracturing relationship,
betraying kindnesses and truths entrusted and shared.

Repentant heart–seeing so much
that could wound another beneath words spoken
or behind misjudgement or inappropriate deed
longs to embrace the other but can find no way.
Too many misapprehensions hold us apart.

I pray for a holy smile to break through
flaming from heart to heart
to consume misunderstanding, sin and pain.
Until then, heart must wait in humble sadness and silence,
Am I alone in poignant sense of loss?

I hurt whom I love–I who also am wronged,
because you cannot see how truly I love you.
But Lord, please touch and heal us!
Make us become sacrament of Yourself,
hearts purified, maturing in reciprocal love.

We neither of us intended hurt
Yet we caused each other pain…
My brother/sister, please forgive me.
I forgive you.

… a silent whisper from my heart…

 

[BarbaraTherese]

Great poem/prayer Trishie!..and wonderful thoughts shared…thank you and blessings - my regards…Barb