On Forgiveness

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The below is almost entirely from a lesson I taught about a year ago. I thought it would be interesting to discuss forgiveness. I will include a few LDS scriptures and statements by LDS general authorities because those were part of my original lesson. I am first interested in hearing what Catholic views are on this subject. Then we can explore some other things.

I would like to talk about our forgiving others.
D&C 64: 9-10
“Wherefore, I say unto you, that ye ought to forgive one another; for he that forgiveth not his brother his trespasses standeth condemned before the Lord; for there remaineth in him the greater sin. I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men.”

Matthew 18:23-35
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.
But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

The Works of Guy de Maupassant – Piece of String (this was quoted in a Jun 1991 Ensign Article)
Guy de Maupassant, the French writer, tells the story of a peasant named Hauchecome who came on market day to the village. While walking through the public square, his eye caught sight of a piece of string lying on the cobblestones. He picked it up and put it in his pocket. His actions were observed by the village harness maker, with whom he had previously had a dispute.
Later in the day the loss of a purse was reported. Hauchecome was arrested on the accusation of the harness maker. He was taken before the mayor, to whom he protested his innocence, showing the piece of string that he had picked up. But he was not believed and was laughed at.
The next day the purse was found, and Hauchecome was absolved of any wrongdoing. But, resentful of the indignity he had suffered because of a false accusation, he became embittered and would not let the matter die. Unwilling to forgive and forget, he thought and talked of little else. He neglected his farm. Everywhere he went, everyone he met had to be told of the injustice. By day and by night he brooded over it. Obsessed with his grievance, he became desperately ill and died. In the delirium of his death struggles, he repeatedly murmured, “A piece of string, a piece of string.” (The Works of Guy de Maupassant, Roslyn, New York: Black’s Reader Service, n.d., pp. 34–38.)
cont…
 
A friend of mine shared a story he heard from his stake president.
There was a man whose friend burned down his house. The friend may or may not have had any malicious intent, but at least was quite negligent and uncaring. The man whose house was burned down was initially quite upset. He waited for his former friend to apologize and help right the wrong. It was obvious to all that that the former friend was reticent and felt bad, but he couldn’t do much to right the wrong even if he could get the courage to apologize.
For a period of time the man was upset about the act. For a period of time the man was upset about the lack of an apology. But as the man worked to rebuild his house he began to see a few things. First, his being upset about the act and the lack of an apology was HIS problem. Second, no matter how much his friend may have desired to restore the house he couldn’t do it. [Note: This would be true regardless of the financial status of the friend, because to truly rebuild YOUR house, you must be involved]. And third (and perhaps most interesting) to truly get beyond this the man would need to restore his house and forgive the offence completely.
This man approached his friend and asked him if he would like to help with some of the repairs.
For our purposes the friend’s response is not important because it is still up to the man whose house was burned to complete the forgiveness and restoration.

These types of forgiveness and restoration things in our life usually take time. How much time depends on how RICH we are. As we approach perfect union with Christ, through whom infinite forgiveness comes, we approach infinite richness and perfect forgiveness.

Some discussion on forgiving and forgetting.
Matthew 5:39-44
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

In a May 1988 Ensign article, After quoting D&C 64:9 Elder Oaks said, “If we always remember our Savior, we will forgive and forget grievances against those who have wronged us.”

In a Nov 1974 Ensign article, After quoting Matthew 18:22 (seven times seventy) Elder Franklin D. Richards said, “An important part of forgiving is forgetting. In some ways, being able to forget is almost as valuable as being able to remember.”

And most clearly Elder O. Leslie Stone in a Nov 1979 Ensign article said, “We have often heard people say, ‘Well, I will forgive, but I won’t forget,’ which, of course, means they do not forgive.”

Does turning the other cheek seem like the more normal act of protecting oneself from future hurt? And one who is truly RICH with an abundance that is INFINITE would think little of leaving the man who burnt their house down alone with matches again.
The RICHER (more united with Christ) we are the more we can forget (in addition to the forgive) and still feel love and peace.
cont …
 
Matthew 5:39
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

Matthew 5:40
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.

Might not the world call weakness sin? Shouldn’t we instead call sin weakness? And if we do what does it mean to, “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.”(D&C 81:5)

It seems clear to me that those who sin against us are in far more need of our succor than are those who “but for a small moment” are without some material comfort (not that we can possible love these folks and neglect their basic necessities). Can we truly succor them if we hold back our forgiveness? Have we truly forgiven them if we always guard ourselves from future hurt by them? If we were truly rich what would we do? Is not part of being truly rich (uniting with Christ) allowing Christ to comfort us when we step out beyond our natural comfort zones, and then finding that He is always there and thus we are at peace (and our comfort zone expands due to His love)?

Thoughts?
Charity, TOm
 
Excellent insights. 😉 :clapping:

I am wondering about self-protectiveness and the unrepentant transgressor.

Forgiveness is easy when one has assurance that it will not happen again.

There are those who find it impossible to apologize, just as there are those who find it impossible to forgive. (often the same people)
 
Until recently, I lived “forgive and forget” in my life to the point of absolute masochism.
 
The quotes TOm gave from Matthew chapter 5 do not deal with forgiveness, but rather with how to get along as a religious person in a secular culture.

Whenever forgiveness is explicitly discussed in the bible, it is in the context of repentence on the part of the transgressor.

I have read nothing in the bible that says that we should forgive and forget the unrepentent and predatory offender. That would leave us and our families vulnerable to furthur injury. But neither should we nurse a grudge, for that only harms ourselves.

I am thinking of a particular individual who severely victimized me and my family. He is unrepentent and has hurt others since. I bear him no continued ill will, as I believe him to be mentally disturbed. But I certainly will never “forget” so as to trust him and give him access to my home and family again.
Matthew 10:16 - Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
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God love you,
Paul
 
Absolutely, the transgressor needs to repent for us to be bound to forgive. We CAN forgive the unrepentant if we want, and ins some cases it would be meritorious to do so, but we don’t have to.

In some cases, forgiving the unrepentant could lead them to come to the truth. I am thinking of one case from years ago where a KKK wizard and a black minister had a radio debate. Before the debate, when they met in the studio, the KKK fellow spit on the minister and cursed him out terribly. The minister responded by sticking his hand out for a hand shake and saying, “God bless you!” This is the sortof thing I’m talking about.

In other cases, to forgive the unrepentant could lead them astray, by causing them to think what they are doing is ok. For instance, if a fellow Christian sins against you, forgiving them without their repentance could lead them to think they did nothing wrong. Jesus recommends that we confront them about it, then bring them to a few others, then to the Church, and then to basically stop talking to them if they still won’t repent. St. Paul instructs the same thing, that we exclude the unrepentant from our midst. In both cases, the idea is to get them to see that they sinned so that they can themselves be free from the consequences of their sin.
 
There is no life apart from God’s love. Therefore, there is no life apart from forgiveness, for forgiveness is the seal, the mark, and the proof of Love. *If we say we have love and cannot walk in forgiveness, we deceive ourselves, and our “love” is only a parody of the real thing. *

We are an undeserving people, so how can we say I cannot forgive that one? If we truly walked to the Cross with Christ to die with Christ we would be an honest example. But who is willing to go that extra mile?

“I once heard a Priest say, “Justice is good, but mercy is better.” James 2:13 expresses it this way, “Mercy triumphs over justice!” God is “just” so his justice had to be fulfilled for the whole human race. How was the justice fulfilled? Jesus did this by taking onto himself the punishment for our sins. So that justice could be done, he died in our place. God, by the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus has given us a gift that we don’t deserve” — forgiveness. by Maurice Blumberg

When you get smaller, the cross gets bigger in your life. How many times should we forgive another? We need to think about the Cross of Christ in these things. If we can place ourselves in the lowest possible place forgiving becomes much easier.

__________________________________________________________________

“Absolutely, the transgressor needs to repent for us to be bound to forgive.”

Bound to forgive? I have never looked at it like that. I love to forgive others always. I think it is because I love the peace that only Christ can give me. When I forgive weather in silence or face to face it is because Christ has forgiven me. I am not to concerned with whether they accept it or not. I leave that up to God and that person. When I am forgiven by another for the pain I may have caused, I give it up to God.

“We CAN forgive the unrepentant if we want, and in some cases it would be meritorious to do so, but we don’t have to.”

We should not be concerned with another’s unrepentant nature. It may change in 20 years and then you might get a call saying “remember when you forgave me? Thank you; you do not know how it changed my life. I may have seemed mean at the time, 20 years ago, it’s just that I could not imagine someone forgiving me like you did. At the time it made me almost ill, but years later because of what you did you showed me a Christ that I did not yet know. But you helped light up the path for me, for him. Thank you and God bless.

Or maybe this person forgot about you and the call never comes, but a seed was planted.

Do you desire to be the one whom sows or the one who is the harvests? You should be careful, think.

”In some cases, forgiving the unrepentant could lead them to come to the truth.
In other cases, to forgive the unrepentant could lead them astray, by causing them to think what they are doing is ok.”

Again, do you desire to be the one whom sows or the one who is the harvests?

“For instance, if a fellow Christian sins against you, forgiving them without their repentance could lead them to think they did nothing wrong.”

Just forgive them, forgive them 70 times 70 times, don’t look for expectations, or place any burdens on them to repent to you. Forgive them and then let Christ take care of them from there.
 
“Jesus recommends that we confront them about it, then bring them to a few others, then to the Church, and then to basically stop talking to them if they still won’t repent. St. Paul instructs the same thing, that we exclude the unrepentant from our midst. In both cases, the idea is to get them to see that they sinned so that they can themselves be free from the consequences of their sin.”

Jesus also said this “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” He forgave them, He died for them, for all of “us”. It’s all about timing, and Gods timing is not our timing. Just forgive, find the peace in it even if those you forgive do not find this peace. Pray that they will and move on, this is what this means.

When Jesus said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” He forgave us all. If we can then come to see the power in this we can them come to understand the power of His death for each one of us.

Again, we are “all” an undeserving people, so how can we say I cannot forgive that one? If we truly walked to the Cross with Christ to die with Christ we would be an honest example in these matters. But who is willing to go that extra mile? Who is willing to love others that much? Especially those who have hurt us? I know of only One.
 
Jesus doesn’t forgive the unrepentant. I could never, ever hold myself aboe Jesus in terms of forgiveness. It would be impossible to do so even if I tried. We have to try to live up to Christ, but we can’t outdo Him.

Not only is it true that in every case where Christ talks about us forgiving people, He mentions repentance, but it is also true that both Christ and St. Paul explicitly tell us that we must not forgive the unrepentant but that we must exclude the unrepentant.

Of course if someone doesn’t know what they’re doing I would forgive them, just as Jesus forgave the soldiers who crucified Him because they didn’t know what they were doing.
 
If I don’t ask Jesus for forgiveness, He does not forgive. If someone who has hurt me in any way does not ask for forgiveness, I cannot forgive in words to him or her. When hurt terribly, I have gone to the transgressor and told him that I forgave him, the reaction was, “for what?”. I then forgave in my heart, prayed that the transgressor will right his ways and went on. For my own sanity and spiritual welfare, it is necesary that we leave behind the hurtful person when we can do nothing about it in a charitable, kind way. Easy? no, but I think it is what Christ wants us to do. We cannot force an apology from one who does not feel remorse, but we can do the best we can and hold Jesus in our hearts.

Love and peace

Mom of 5
 
This thread has gone in quite a different direction than I thought it would (although I am glad I waited to respond). I think I see Catholic_RCIA and Mom of 5 clearly saying that we are to forgive the unrepentant. I am a little unsure of Jershua’s position. It seems that PaulDupre and Lazerlike42 are advocating something that seems incredibly dangerous to me.

cont…
 
D&C 64:9-10 leaves the LDS with no option, we simply must forgive the unrepentant. This and a number of Biblical references are very easy to align with Luke 17:3.

I really cannot see how someone can build a theology off of Luke 17:3 and neglect so many other Biblical statements. Yes, if our brother offends and repents 7 times in a day we must forgive him, but we must forgive him even if he does not repent.
Mat 6:14-15:
For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Mat 18:35
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Mrk 11:25
And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
Lke 6:37
Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven
Lke 11:4
And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Eph4:32
And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.
Col 3:13-14
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.

Col (and some translations of Eph) should not be misunderstood to mean that we forgive as Christ forgives. Rather, we forgive since Christ has forgiven you. It might be interesting to discuss the causality differences that are implied in various different sections of the Bible, but no where are we counseled to judge like God judges. We just forgive.

In fact the last part of my little note above should be sufficient if we really think about it. Even if one could somehow right all the “thou must forgive” and believe Luke 17:3 was the end all be all of God’s word, how would you JUDGE who has and has not repented. That is not your place. Do you want to condition your salvation on your judgment associated with the repentant status of some other person.
It was not my intention to discuss if we must forgive the unrepentant, but I think this is quite important before we can move on. I desire to talk about some tough stuff. We simply must forgive the unrepentant.
JohnChrys:
We ourselves have control over the judgment that is to be passed upon us. For in order that no one, even the senseless, might have any complaint to make, either great or small, when brought to judgment, He causes the sentence to depend on us who are to give an account. In what way we have judged for ourself, in the same, says He do I also judge you.
Professed by “as we forgive those who trespass against us” CCC2842 says:
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CCC:
This “as” is not unique in Jesus’ teaching: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”; “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”; “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” It is impossible to keep the Lord’s commandment by imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the Spirit by whom we live can make “ours” the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves “forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave” us.
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It is unfortunate that refusal to forgive the unrepentant is taught over some Protestant pulpits, but I think it is a tough case to make in the Bible AND I do not think it is available to the Catholic. It is only through Christ that we can forgive as we are called to forgive, but I think it is dangerous to claim not to be called to forgive (even the unrepentant).
Charity, TOm
 
Mom of 5 seems to be advocating the same thing that I am. I am advocating what Jesus said and does.

Let’s say I sin against God and I start having sex with my girlfriend. Let’s say I then realize I am sinning, and I repent and stop having sex with her. I go to Jesus, I ask forgiveness, and He says, resoundingly, “YES!”

Now let me tell you something I really did. I started having sex with my girlfriend. Then I realized it was a sin. Every time I did it, I said, “Jesus forgive me.” However, I always planned on doing it again. The truth is that Jesus never forgave me because I never repented.

The important thing is that He was always ready to forgive me the instant I repented. This is what we need to do, and what I think Mom of 5 is at least hinting at. I can’t hold myself above Jesus and forgive the unrepentant, but I MUST always be ready to forgive the very instant someone does repent.

I must be forgiving in my heart at ALL times. If someone sins against me, and then they are in need of help, I must not deny them that because they haven’t repented of their sin against me, because I must be forgiving in my heart. If I am forgiving in my heart, I will always be ready to make an act of forgiveness to the person. Jesus is just like that. But if a person is un repentant, He doesn’t forgive them in an act, and they are cast to Hell.

A lot of people have problems with Christianity because they feel it makes us doormats. This isn’t what we are to be. This is why we mustn’t simply forgive the unrepentant. To forgive the unrepentant is what is dangerous. Think of an abusive boyfriend. Does a girl forgive an abusive husband without repentance? Of course not, because to do that would put the girl at great risk for more abuse.
 
There is not a single Scripture passage that says we need to forgive the unrepentant. However, there are several which tell us that we should not forgive the unrepentant.

Go and listen to some of the Open forums on the Catholic answers radio archives. This question comes up all the time and the answer is always that we need not forgive the unrepentant.

It is something we CAN do if we want, and if the situation is right, but it is not something we must do and it is something that Christ and St. Paul explicitly tell us on several occasions NOT to do.
 
“It is only through Christ that we can forgive as we are called to forgive, but I think it is dangerous to claim not to be called to forgive (even the unrepentant).”…Tom

Who does Jesus love the most? The repentant or the unrepentant? The sheep or the Goats? Them or us? He forgave us while we were in our sin, He died for us while we were sinners. This is not a game, when it comes to Jesus all bets are off, performance is not the issue, a relationship with Him is. You can not one up on Jesus as He is God, he being creator, we being created. When you can understand His love for all of us, then you would come to know how un conditional his love is for us. The unrepentant can loose salvation because of a turning away from the life giving stream. We are all like the unrepentant, as we all die because of our sinful nature. But if you have love in you, if you love even those that hate you, forgive even those that will not accept it, all you have done is what you are called to do, not so much for you, but for the other. How many did not forgive the thief on the Cross while on his journey to it? What will become of them if they do not see their own sin? How many did forgive the thief on the cross and he did not even know it? What the thief found in Christ pierced his heart moments before his death. How could Jesus have changed this mans heart when others could not? We all judge by the worlds standards, we are all little gods. Jesus is contrary to each and every one of us, his ways are so different. Last night in our Parish we all stood under the crucify and we spoke about it, what it means to us as Catholic Christians. I am the repentant at times, I am also the un repentant at times. I am the sheep and I am the goat. But thank God I am also the lost lamb upon my saviors back being carried home. If you allow Jesus to carry you, you can forgive all along the way and hope that they all turn out to be like the thief on the cross. But Jesus will have the final word, we can give this up to him and not concern ourselves with these matters. If we do our part souls can and will be saved by Christ. We need not keep a tally, just forgive and forgive and forgive. But most of all learn how to receive it ourselves, because we are all forgiven, we are all sinners.
 
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catholic-rcia:
“It is only through Christ that we can forgive as we are called to forgive, but I think it is dangerous to claim not to be called to forgive (even the unrepentant).”…Tom

Who does Jesus love the most? The repentant or the unrepentant? The sheep or the Goats? Them or us? He forgave us while we were in our sin, He died for us while we were sinners. This is not a game, when it comes to Jesus all bets are off, performance is not the issue, a relationship with Him is. You can not one up on Jesus as He is God, he being creator, we being created. When you can understand His love for all of us, then you would come to know how un conditional his love is for us. The unrepentant can loose salvation because of a turning away from the life giving stream. We are all like the unrepentant, as we all die because of our sinful nature. But if you have love in you, if you love even those that hate you, forgive even those that will not accept it, all you have done is what you are called to do, not so much for you, but for the other. How many did not forgive the thief on the Cross while on his journey to it? What will become of them if they do not see their own sin? How many did forgive the thief on the cross and he did not even know it? What the thief found in Christ pierced his heart moments before his death. How could Jesus have changed this mans heart when others could not? We all judge by the worlds standards, we are all little gods. Jesus is contrary to each and every one of us, his ways are so different. Last night in our Parish we all stood under the crucify and we spoke about it, what it means to us as Catholic Christians. I am the repentant at times, I am also the un repentant at times. I am the sheep and I am the goat. But thank God I am also the lost lamb upon my saviors back being carried home. If you allow Jesus to carry you, you can forgive all along the way and hope that they all turn out to be like the thief on the cross. But Jesus will have the final word, we can give this up to him and not concern ourselves with these matters. If we do our part souls can and will be saved by Christ. We need not keep a tally, just forgive and forgive and forgive. But most of all learn how to receive it ourselves, because we are all forgiven, we are all sinners.

Exactly! (at least I assume you are agreeing with what I have said).

Charity, TOm
 
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Lazerlike42:
There is not a single Scripture passage that says we need to forgive the unrepentant. However, there are several which tell us that we should not forgive the unrepentant.
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Go and listen to some of the Open forums on the Catholic answers radio archives. This question comes up all the time and the answer is always that we need not forgive the unrepentant.

It is something we CAN do if we want, and if the situation is right, but it is not something we must do and it is something that Christ and St. Paul explicitly tell us on several occasions NOT to do.

Two things.

First, there are many scriptural passages that say that those united with Christ must forgive to be forgive OR on account of the fact that they are forgive they must forgive. Most of these passages say nothing about the repentant or unrepentant status of those we forgive.

And, I mentioned Luke 17:3 which could be said to say what you advocate, but to walk this road you must offer or withdraw your forgiveness based upon your judgment as to whether your brother has repented. I think the other passages I posted make it clear that even Luke 17:3 cannot be saying “do not forgive the unrepentant.” If there are many scriptures that make this clear, I would be interested in seeing what you refer too. I have provided about 8 that seem to say “FORGIVE!” and do not qualify the conditions upon which others may warrant forgiveness.

I do want to deal with “being a doormat,” but first I want to establish that through Christ we are called to forgive even the unrepentant. If someone has despitefully used you and reveled in their unkindness, I believe it is upon the Christian to forgive them anyway. Christ’s strength is enough to do this. How we go about this is discussable.

And in addition to showing the Biblical passages that support your point, please explain the CCC passage that I quoted too. The CCC is systematic theology. If it says “forgive all so that we may be forgiven,” it generally means it (the Bible is pre-critical and many things must be aligned and understood properly to get to the underlying message, but it is not a good idea to build a theology on one verse ignoring many others).

Charity, TOm
 
Let me give a “real life” story…sad as it is.

Recently a step-child took something quite valuable from our home. (This person is over 30 years old and has had problems with drugs, check forging,etc., is a felon.) We knew who took this item, however we continued to help this child along with spouse and our granchild. No matter how much money etc. we gave to them, they always needed more. The day the item was taken from our home, we were loading their pickup with groceries while the item was being taken from our home. It took a while, but my husband finally talked to his child about the missing item, his child admitted to taking it. We did not prosecute, we did not demand the item be replaced. The item had been sold by our child. We did try to help this family learn to handle money, etc. It has been VERY difficult. The biggest"hurt" is that they have told many untruths about us even while we were helping them, (about 13 years of welfare). Finally we wrote them a letter. We said that we loved them and wished them well but that they would have to learn how to support themselves and their child. We offered our prayers and best wishes. We have sent many books of inspiration, offered to take them to church, (of their choice), etc. they do not accept God or any religion in their lives. They reacted by calling and wishing us dead and that they will never come see us again and grandchild is to have nothing to do with us. We have been totally used and have been so upset that we needed to “walk away”.

The real kicker is that our childs spouse is dying of cancer. This person cannot find room for Christ, blames the world for all the problems, and is still ungreatful to all who have tried to help, financially and spiritually. I tried to tell them that this is the time to make peace with God, themselves and all who have been in their lives. They laughed at me.

At this time, we continue to pray, “Lord forgive them. Give us the grace to continue praying and loving them. May the Holy Spirit penetrate their hearts and lead them to a calm and peaceful place. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, pray for all of us”. Amen.

Love and peace

Mom of 5 (step mom to 5 more)
 
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