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Fieryjades
Guest
How are we as Catholic Christians supposed to forgive others? Is forgiveness separate from love? Since God doesn’t forgive those who do not have contrite hearts, are we do the same?
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slinky1882
Guest
We are to forgive out of Justice and Mercy, but if the individual continues or acts through grave sin (ex. abuse of any kind sexual, physical, verbal, etc.), we have a duty to reprimand the person, even with righteous anger if necessity dictates. Should it be necessary, we may need to have some space or seperation from the individual to prevent occasions of sin. Forgiveness and Love go together, and union of Justice and Mercy are two facets of Love. Ideally, our contrition would be perfect, but as we sin our hearts are not always perfectly contrite. And we should leave the final judgement of hearts to God in His Omnipotence and Love and the Perfect Judge and forgive if we wish to be forgiven. Thanks and God Bless.
J
Joysong
Guest
Dear Fieryjades,
re: “Since God doesn’t forgive those who do not have contrite hearts, are we to do the same?”
There is a bit of confusion over your statement, because it is true in the sense of “final impenitence” — God *cannot, *in His justice, forgive the unrepentent, and we all know the consequence if one dies in that state.
Jesus came to teach us what the Father is like, and proved it with His example on the cross, of forgiving His executioners, “for they know not what they do.” As they jeered Him to come down from His cross, they were not in a mood to repent, huh?
If we look at the father of the prodigal son in Lk.15:20, he caught sight of his son while he was still a long way off, and was deeply moved. He ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. Was the son repentent? Verse 17 shows us that he was more concerned about having enough to eat rather than the offense to his father. (Imperfect contrition, we call it)
What we should understand, I think, is that God’s forgiveness is always offered and readily available — we need only to accept it. If we choose not to, then that is the freedom of our will that God respects, and will damn us if we die unrepentent. St. Faustina had the special mission from God to teach us that divine mercy is always present; that is, until final judgment.
That being the case, I sense your next question will be, what is our obligation to forgive? We forgive the trespass, debt, offense, injury, internally, whether or not the person repents. Very often, the person believes they are right in what they have done, and we will wait a very long time for them to come to any awareness that they have injured us. Are we to carry this ill-will inside all the while? Nah! It will only harm us physically and spiritually if we do. We release them to God’s judgment.
Meanwhile, as Slinky mentioned, it may become necessary to separate or take certain action based on justice. But our heart is free of rancor or seething wrath, which never works the justice of God.
Carole
re: “Since God doesn’t forgive those who do not have contrite hearts, are we to do the same?”
There is a bit of confusion over your statement, because it is true in the sense of “final impenitence” — God *cannot, *in His justice, forgive the unrepentent, and we all know the consequence if one dies in that state.
Jesus came to teach us what the Father is like, and proved it with His example on the cross, of forgiving His executioners, “for they know not what they do.” As they jeered Him to come down from His cross, they were not in a mood to repent, huh?
If we look at the father of the prodigal son in Lk.15:20, he caught sight of his son while he was still a long way off, and was deeply moved. He ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. Was the son repentent? Verse 17 shows us that he was more concerned about having enough to eat rather than the offense to his father. (Imperfect contrition, we call it)
What we should understand, I think, is that God’s forgiveness is always offered and readily available — we need only to accept it. If we choose not to, then that is the freedom of our will that God respects, and will damn us if we die unrepentent. St. Faustina had the special mission from God to teach us that divine mercy is always present; that is, until final judgment.
That being the case, I sense your next question will be, what is our obligation to forgive? We forgive the trespass, debt, offense, injury, internally, whether or not the person repents. Very often, the person believes they are right in what they have done, and we will wait a very long time for them to come to any awareness that they have injured us. Are we to carry this ill-will inside all the while? Nah! It will only harm us physically and spiritually if we do. We release them to God’s judgment.
Meanwhile, as Slinky mentioned, it may become necessary to separate or take certain action based on justice. But our heart is free of rancor or seething wrath, which never works the justice of God.
Carole
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Steven_Merten
Guest
Hello Fieryjades,
Pope John Paul II teaches us how to forgive others. Three days after the attempted assassination on his life, Pope John Paul II forgave the attempted assassin. The man still served 19 years in Italian prison. Pope John Paul II bore love and forgiveness for the man in his heart yet he bore the responsibility to society to punish the man with imprisonment for the protection of society. Can you imagine if Pope John Paul II would have had the known murderer released in the Vatican or Italian gettos? Can you imagine if the Pope would have physically freed the attempted assassin after three days and allowed him to apply to become a Vatican armed Swiss Guard?
Forgiveness does not mean that one does not protect one’s self or not punish someone who has done you harm. Forgiveness means that you bear no hatred for your enemy in your heart. You are to love your enemy as yourself. If you were out there murdering people, would you not want someone to imprison you? If you were murdering children on a play ground, would you not want a police officer to shoot and kill you before you murdered another child?
We are commanded to love and forgive our enemies in our heart. Do not confuse this with some sort of non-punishment or non-resistance when others harm you.
Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
www.ILOVEYOUGOD.com
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stbruno
Guest
Today is the 10th anniversary of the bombing of Oklahoma City. Bud Welch the father of one of the victims, practices what he preaches…forgiveness. He even visited Timothy McVeigh’s father and family in their home several years ago to express his forgiveness to the family. Their pain was worse than his own because he can readily talk about the goodness and loss of his daughter, but Mr.McVeigh cannot truly grieve his son publicly without feeling a sense of shame. But by forgiving, Mr. Welch says, the pain and the anger he initially felt was crippling, but forgiveness is liberating. It opens us up to the mercy and glory of God. That’s the message of the gospel!
journeyofhope.org/old_site/People/bud_welch.htm
journeyofhope.org/old_site/People/bud_welch.htm
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