BY VERY REV MSGR GABRIEL OSU
The readiness to forgive demanded by the Lord’s prayer is a religious attitude rooted in the experience of a forgiving Father. Human forgiveness is both a consequence of and a condition for our being forgiven by God. Forgiveness is linked to a refusal to condemn because we are sinners and we cannot read hearts.

Yet forgiveness does not excuse or tolerate evil; it overcomes it. Only a spiral of active mercy can break the spiral of violence that is tearing the world apart. The gospels present forgiveness of sins as the internal side of the restoration of creation’s integrity. Jesus’ power to forgive sins and restore creation is proven by his power to heal. This restoration is a mark of God’s reign that Jesus proclaims (cf. Isaiah 11:6-9).

Jesus has power to forgive sins as displayed when the Pharisees and teachers of the law questioned: “Who is this man who speaks such blasphemy! Who can forgive sins except God alone? I – Luke 5:21-26. He said which is easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you or to say ‘Get up and walk’?

I will prove to you then that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”. So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up pick up your bed, and go home!” At once the man got up in front of them all, took the bed he had been lying on and went home, praising God.

They were all completely amazed! Full of fear, they praised God, saying: “What marvelous things we have seen today!/I Jesus had said in Matthew 18:21; 19:1: ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy – seven times’. Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?

Up to seven times?” Jesus answered “1 tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

He told them “ … forgive and you will be forgiven … “Jesus was emphasing compassion. The sooner you forgive him, the sooner he will recover from his illness. You are the person to restore him to health of soul and body. “Speak to your son again. Do not refuse me, Father!

If I am truly your daughter and you love me, as much as you profess, you will grant me what I ask” (Catherine De Ricci). “Tell me, how are we two going to face the Day of Judgment? The sun is witness that it has gone down on our anger not one day but for many a long years … woe to me, vile wretch!

Must I say, woe to you also? .. I am now renewing the request I made to you in my previous letter of a year ago… Soon harmony restored or harmony ruptured will receive reward or penalty before his tribunal very well, if you now rebuff me, the guilt will not be on my head. Once you have read it, this letter of mine will secure my acquittal” (St. Jerome, to his aunt).

Forgiveness preceded the woman who was a sinner, and had carried an alabaster flask of ointment, when she heard that Jesus was reclining at table a Pharisee, a tax-collector. Jesus retorted: “Therefore 1 tell you, her many sins are forgiven her because she loved much.

For the one to whom little is forgiven loves little” … “Your sins are forgiven … “ The one to whom little is forgiven loves little. Love is a thankful consequence of Jesus’ forgiveness of the woman and love which does not forgive is in fact directed sincerely to the joy and growth of the other.

The great love of the sinful woman brought upon her lord’s pardon because love is what the lord wishes to find in each of his own. When a man has tenderness for others, God has compassion for him (Talmud). Where there is no compassion, crime increases.

To err is human, to forgive divine. He who forgives ends the quarrel. Repentance can precede forgiveness or even follow it.

You know Jesus and Zacchaeus story. Zacchaeus was a short man, so he climbed up to see Jesus passing that way – Luke 19:1-9. Jesus said to Zacchaeus: “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save what had been lost”.

In Jesus’ presence Zacchaeus straightened his old ways into effective love for his nieghbour. For he (Zacchaeus) said if he defrauded anyone (for he was a tax-collector), he would give back fourfold!

The story of the lawyer who wanted to test Jesus on what to do to inherit eternal life. And “who is my neighbour?” Jesus at the end of this parable showed mercy. It summarizes all duties which correspond to the rights of one’s neighbour: respect for his or her freedom, for his or her right to self-development, for all that is necessary for his or her social and spiritual life.

Fraternal love leads to solidarity, to forgiveness of offences (sins), to overcoming of religious or social discrimination. Merciful love is the centre of morality.

Mercy and compassion (love) Ieee to forgiveness. Mercy, which is a greater thing than right, is the fulfillment of justice, not its abolition. “Among the attributes of God, although they are all equal, mercy shines with even more brilliance than justice. Mercy imitates God and disappoints Satan” (St. John Chrysostom).