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.
