Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?– Sirach 28:2-4
I believe that there is true power in choosing to forgive. We imitate God Himself when we show mercy to those who have hurt us. In truth, all sins are sins against God’s law, so only He can truly forgive sins: “It is I, I, who wipe out, for my own sake, your offenses; your sins I remember no more” (Isaiah 48:25). God is the primary actor of judgment and mercy; we can imitate Him when we choose to forgive.
Jesus told Peter that our forgiveness toward others should be unlimited. In the Bible, the number seven symbolizes perfection, so to forgive someone “not seven times but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:22), we are to forgive repeatedly and perfectly, leaving nothing behind to hold a grudge against. It is when we can truly let go of the hurt and forgive completely that we ourselves are able to receive God’s healing and forgiveness for ourselves.
When we pray the Our Father, we say, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We ask God to forgive us in the measure that we have forgiven others. So if we hold a grudge against someone for their wrongdoing to us, we end up holding back God’s forgiveness for ourselves. We will always have something between us and the other person, and between us and God.
Side note: reconciliation and forgiveness are related yet different actions. Forgiveness can be a one-way street; it only takes one person to forgive another. Reconciliation takes two people who are willing to forgive and work past hurts to rebuild a relationship. This is why the sacrament of Reconciliation is aptly named: God is always ready to forgive us perfectly; we need only to approach His throne of mercy to receive pardon from our Father who loves us.
This week, consider praying about who you could forgive on a deeper level. Each one of us has hurts and scars that others have given us, either intentionally or unintentionally. Either way, the power lies within us to choose to forgive repeatedly and with our whole hearts (see Matthew 18:35).
Jesus, it can be scary to choose to forgive. Please give me the courage and compassion I need to forgive ______ (person’s name) even more deeply. “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).