In June … on the 29th of each June, in fact … the Church calls to mind and honors the central role in Christian history of Sts. Peter and Paul, our first pastor and our first theologian respectively. By observing that day, we Christians remind ourselves of many things, of course, but none of them is more important than is the two saints’ relationship to the Christian doctrine of forgiveness. Although it was Paul who wrote most often about forgiveness as a part of Christian practice, it was Peter, the rock upon whom the Church was founded, to whom Jesus spoke directly, graphically, and frequently about the necessary function of forgiveness. Over and over again, He laid it all out before Peter: You must forgive seventy times seven. …If you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses. …Just so will your Father deliver you to the torment if you from your hearts do not forgive every one his brother their trespasses. … etc., etc.
That’s strong stuff—so strong in fact that almost all of us these days tend to suppress it just out of sheer anxiety about what really believing it would do to us … what the actual cost to us would be—not to mention the apparent impossibility of it all !—were we to embrace those words as ultimate truth. So, over the centuries, it has become an easier and easier sell for most of our kind just to relegate Peter and Paul and their fixation on forgiveness to one feast day in one month of each passing twelve.
What is not so easy to relegate, for me anyway, is a story that will not let me go. I am so caught and bound by this story, in fact, that I carry in my pocket at all times, typed on a piece of folded index card, the closing words of it. And because, even after all these years of my living with them, the words of the story will not let me go, I become at times like the Ancient Mariner and am compelled to share them. Especially is this true in June when we draw so close to, and yet so fearfully far away from, Sts. Peter and Paul.
In the closing days of WWII, when it was obvious that Germany was going to fall within a matter of just a few days, the Germans moved quickly to empty the concentration camps. Some prisoners they attempted to move to other locations, but most they simply slaughtered on the spot. One of the camps in which the last, remaining prisoners were gassed in order to prevent their testimony later was Ravensbruck, a camp of especial horror where primarily Jewish women had been incarcerated over the years of war and put to slave labor.
Some few days after the last firing of Ravensbruck’s ovens, the allied forces did indeed enter the camp to free what was by then beyond the reach of human freedom. In the course of occupying the camp, the soldiers had to inspect the long huts where the last of the women had been kept. And in one of those prison dormitories, written on a scrap of old wrapping paper and tucked for safekeeping into a crack in the wall, was the last message from the women of Ravensbruck:
Lord, remember not only the men of good will, but also those of ill will.
But do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us.
Remember rather the fruits we have bought, thanks to this suffering:
Our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility, the courage, the generosity,
the greatness of heart that has grown out of this.
And when they come to judgment,
let all the fruits we have borne be their forgiveness.
This First Sunday of June, I pray God that we who claim the cross may come to such grace as this in our time.
Hate,Anger,Revenge,Grudges,Scars, Wounds,we all experience these it is indeed part of the human condition. Without them we would not have Love on the other side. No it is not just for God to forgive on the Cross God in the Person of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, taught us what we should do: Love, forgive, pray, give our whole life over to the Father. I desire to follow Jesus and Forgive as He has forgiven me. Whenever I fail to love I fail to do as Jesus did. So let us all love one another. When we decide to hate we do what the devil does. When we decide to love we do what God does. What will we decide today, and each day of our lives. I decide to love because love is all we have if we give ourselves to God.
Posted by: Charlotte Griffin 6/19/2009 11:10:16 PM
I am terminally ill. Some people like me blame God and cannot forgive God. It took me a while. I first tried reading books on why God allows suffering. This did not work. God slowly and gently taught me God's love of me and forgiveness of me. It may sound odd speaking of forgiving God who is blameless, but my experience was that as God led me through the process of forgiving him/her, he/she led me through forgiving myself and forgiving others throughout my life.
Posted by: Eric 6/16/2009 11:42:10 AM
What an amazing prayer and story! I will keep this in my pocket as well. It is very difficult to forgive myself let alone others for what I have done or what has been done to me, sometimes it easier. Forgiveness sometimes comes with time and I know that I CAN forgive because it is Abba who strengthens me. God bless you all. Peace!
Posted by: J.T. 6/16/2009 10:46:18 AM
How beautiful those words are and how hard it is sometimes to feel that way about those who harm us. But until we can forgive ourselves, we cannot forgive those who did harm us. And we live in a prison of our own making. God forgives us every day when we make mistakes, are we so proud we cannot forgive those who harmed us' To be free, is to forgive all.
Posted by: Mary W. 6/11/2009 11:10:06 AM
I have chosen to forgive those who have hurt me emotionally and physically.
Posted by: Cathy 6/8/2009 9:10:20 PM
I am struggling to forgive a sexually-abusive stepfather and mother who did not stop him.
Posted by: TLH 6/8/2009 3:26:29 PM
Eactly what I needed to hear. Thank you.
Posted by: Sara R.T. 6/7/2009 3:02:19 AM
as a victim of clergy abuse it is very difficult for me to pray those words and I am often reminded that when the power imbalance exists forgiveness is quite difficult for us and often the church makes us feel guilty- we,the victims can not do the forgiving - only God can. Even Jesus used this model on the cross for his abusers- He prayed Father forgive them - Jesus asked God to do the forgiving on his behalf because he could not. He did not have the power to do so. Power imbalances exists in most abusive relationships and the victim lacks the power to grant forgiveness only God can. So every day I place my abuser before God - and trust that God will do what I can not. I also pray to forgive myself for not being able to accomplish what only God can.
Posted by: katheen o'brien 6/6/2009 9:34:22 AM
I have chosen to forgive anyone who has emotionally hurt me,did not show love to me or did hurt me.
Posted by: 6/4/2009 9:19:40 PM
I choose to forgive all that has hurt me emotionally @ phisycally
Posted by: Mary Kay 6/4/2009 9:19:12 PM
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