Christian Reflection and Prayer

Scripture:

"Lord, how often must I forgive my
brother if he wrongs me? As often
as seven times?" Jesus answers,
"Not seven, I tell you, but seventy
seven times" (Mt. 18:21-22).

Reflection:

A certain Scripture scholar always
introduces his seminary course of
studies on the New Testament with
a story from his own life. It seems
that years and years ago he had
told a lie to his father that had caused
the parent to be deeply hurt. For years
the matter went unresolved. But the guilt
and the remorse kept gnawing away at
him until, finally, he wrote his father a
letter. Because he was not even sure
that his father would remember, he
reviewed the entire episode and asked
his father to forgive him. A few days later
he received a reply in which the father
said, "Of course I remember, and of
course I forgive you." The son said it
was like a great weight falling from his
shoulders and it made all the difference
in his life. Years later when both his
mother and father died within a short
time of each other he went to their house
and was going through their things. Up
in the attic he found a box containing
little treasures his parents had kept
through the years: treasures from their
marriage, treasures from his childhood.
As he looked through the box his eyes
welled up with tears because he felt so
close to them and the things that had
been most important to them. Then he
found the letter that he had written,
asking for forgiveness. He opened it
and began to read, and with tears
running down his cheeks, he turned
it over. And there, in his father's hand,
was one word: "Forgiven!" Underlined!
And he realized that his father had really
let go of the thing that had come between
them. He had written "Forgiven!" on the
letter, then put it aside in the box of
treasures because it was over. There
was no unfinished business.

What a great gift it was for that son to
discover that his father had relinquished
all traces of the hurt and the resentment
and the bitterness! What a gift it is when
we are able to forgive and to let go; to
forgive and forget! That is the way God
acts with us. When we are forgiven by
God it is as if we had never done what it
was that had caused our estrangement
from Him. And so we pray that God will
give us the gift of relinquishment.

(Sunday Sermon Online)