Are you willing to forgive?

“Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.” We tend to believe forgiveness is the most difficult thing to do and perhaps even to accomplish. Not because we cannot forgive. Certainly we can by the love of God who conquers all things especially sin, death and the ability to forgive, and by the grace and outpouring of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies, heals, reconciles and renews all things making all things new again. With the Lord’s help, we can accomplish all things including forgiveness from the heart for nothing is impossible for God. Just ask our Lady. Forgiveness can feel like the most difficult thing we have to do and perhaps even the greatest impossibility we believe we experience in our own life however, recall and remember not because we cannot do or accomplish forgiveness but perhaps because we are stubborn of heart and resistant in spirit that we tend to avoid forgiveness from the heart, fail to forgive, or simply just do not desire forgiveness for fear of getting hurt or the pain of being used again. Sometimes the people we call friends and family tend to do that. Hurt us the most but Jesus forgives them, and we must as well for the sake of our salvation and our own freedom and happiness. We just do not want to forgive. Even when we know what Jesus said, taught and did regarding forgiveness. He always forgives a repentant sinner even those who blaspheme against His sacred name. Even those who use His holy name in vain. He still forgives them if they ask Him to and truly want to be forgiven. It is not that we cannot forgive another, we just fail to ask Jesus for the grace. We just do not want to. Even though we hear Jesus say from the foot of the Cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do,” we seem to ignore Jesus and pretend not to understand or hear the call to mercy or active forgiveness. We choose to neglect the throne of merciful love when it comes to forgiving from our own hearts. We forget that Jesus said, “unless you forgive from the heart, you cannot be forgiven.” We still fail to forgive. Jesus encourages and commands us to forgive as often as He has forgiven us, which is always. However, we still say and believe we cannot forgive or worst yet, we say and believe we can forgive but will never forget. Thank God, He has truly forgiven you.