Forgive! Why should I?

Though we may be ready to do any religious activities and we may be successful in doing them, it is hard for us to follow the call of Jesus to forgive. We might ask, “why this is done to me,” and we may be right in asking that because we bear real scars from the injustices and evils done to us. At times it might seem that God too has not been gracious to us that we could think of it and do likewise.

Forgiveness is a grace, because only grace can heal the pain we bear. Our anger may be right and justifiable, but it destroys us because it may become an obstacle to receive grace. It may breed hidden hatred and malign our interior nature. We might turn bitter and hard, and increases our pain.

Evil remains evil. It must be named, rejected, and condemned without compromise. But that individual or group is in need of our forgiveness. The pleading ‘give me time, I will repay you’ may not be there at all. Perhaps it is for us the need of time to forgive, but intention to forgive is a matter of now.

Forgiveness is an effort with grace. Let us make an effort to separate from what we are heavy with choosing not to seek revenge or cultivate the grievance. We surrender our demand for vengeance to God, allowing His grace to dissolve the emotional bitterness over time while preserving our own peace.

Who has to forgive? Nations, peoples, races … have to forgive. We know that injustices scale up into historical, structural, and collective memory. Just as in individual persons, unforgiven historical injuries like slavery, colonial exploitation, ethnic conflict, and displacement are passed down across generations as cultural trauma and inherited resentment. When we do not intend to forgive, past injuries become the foundation of our present identity. How sad is it that even nations prompt people to find their identities on the past injuries. This keeps whole societies frozen in defensive hostility. Always the one to be forgiven is not a needy but someone who possesses power and still continues to oppress. Here forgiveness means refusing to let past oppression dictate future relationships, allowing a people to define themselves by their dignity rather than their victimhood. When an oppressor holds power, the victim feels completely disempowered. Is forgiveness possible? We have a wounded saviour. His wounds were clear effect of injustice and violence. But through the same wounds grace and mercy flowed out. He transformed the marks of suffering into channels of divine life.

Dear friends, for today’s world, forgiveness is a great prophetic sign. If we have forgiven, we are telling the world that forgiveness is still possible. It is not compromise, nor allowing our victimhood. Forgiveness does not excuse evil or negate justice. By forgiving, we may experience an internal liberation from the pain we carry. Freed so, we reclaim our life. It is a resemblance of god’s mercy. As Ezekiel carried the bundle as a sign of the burden of exile. Every need for forgiveness carries such a bundle of a pain that is to be freed. When we forgive, the weight drops, and the burden of carrying past injustice is replaced by divine freedom.

Spoken in the name of the Lord

Among the guests of Herod, perhaps there was so much laughter and celebration, noise and cheer. On other side, the last groaning still may have had the voice crying out in the wilderness.

Jesus began his public ministry when he heard that John was arrested. After the death of John, Jesus began to point to his own cross. John was put to death, Jesus withdrew to a lonely place, he is moved with compassion to the people who followed him, and he feeds them. John’s martyrdom wasn’t just a tragic event; it was the prophetic preview of the Calvary path. The first reading takes up the radical call “he has spoken in the name of the Lord.”

Jeremiah states: “As for me, I am in your hands; do with me what you think is good and right.” it is total self-surrender rooted in absolute trust. By placing his life into the hands of a hostile court, Jeremiah strips his persecutors of their ultimate power over him. When a prophet surrenders completely to God, human threats lose their power. The primary implication for us is clear: to stand for the Lord, one must first die to self-preservation. Truth cannot be spoken faithfully if we are still negotiating for our own comfort, safety, or approval. In the case of John, it would have been far safer for him to remain silent on political morality. The correctness seems to belong to the powerful, but speaking ‘right’ means proclaiming truth even when it threatens comfort or survival.

To ensure we do right, we need to form our conscience rooted in God, truly on God. To speak or act in the name of the Lord is not simply invoking a pious formula or claiming God's endorsement for our own opinions. It is not a radical activism. Jeremiah doesn't claim personal authority. He listened to God, he was sure that: “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard.”False prophets may be powerful and popular, they may work miracles, but many may satisfy the religious, ideological, political crave of people. Only when the content and the spirit of the message align with divine justice, mercy, and truth, we actually speak in God’s name. True prophets speak what God commands, fully aware that the message might bring rejection, persecution, or death.

What about our prophetic living? We might mistake extreme asceticism, fanaticism, or separatist isolation for a true prophetic dimension, but these tendencies often center on the self rather than on God. When holiness is reduced to severe physical discipline or angry ideological zeal, religious pride quickly overshadows love, mercy, and God’s patient truth. True prophecy is never about retreating from the world to keep our lives pure. Rather than hiding behind walls of moral superiority, a prophet is called to step into the brokenness of humanity as an instrument of divine healing, light, and justice. If we dare to speak in the name of the Lord, we must know that truth has a cost. Speaking and doing right in the name of God will inevitably clash with systems built on self-interest, compromise, or pride.

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catholicity

 Catholicity may be better experienced when Christians are able to see the church beyond its 'visible boundaries.'

MAGA cult

A cult usually create a convenient deity for the group. It serves the intentions of the group, emotionally, (closed) culturally, and politically. Apparently everything is right and appealing. MAGA cult may be a matter of study and evaluation for all Christians, because in one way or the other, it has influenced their way of thinking about leadership, morality, perceptions on humanity and even the Christ and his kingdom. Perhaps we have conveniently forgotten the gospel for celebrating this cult.

Cult may have pleasing events and celebrations. 500 people reading the Bible together will be a great event. What if we do a great Bibiolatry event and donot follow the gospel? Is God glorified, or is a nation glorified? Worship is due for God, not for Bible, not for any glory of religion or nation, nor any concept of God.