Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt
I've been a bit lax with sharing the bits from Season of Mercy that have touched me during my morning prayer time. This morning, a passage did strike me. Here is Catherine speaking on forgiveness:
Christ expects of us a peaceful approach to the other, no matter how hurtful that other has been, an approach like his own: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they do." I remember when the Communists shot a priest in Russia, an old man with a thin, reedy voice who said, "Father, forgive them, even if they do know what they do." Then I understood what total forgiveness could be. One can only understand it through Christ forgiving us, forgiving his enemies when he lived, and telling us to forgive seventy times seven.
The greatest thing I can do for anybody is to pray for them and really mean it. Again there is this depth of prayer. If I just say, "Lord, I have forgiven her and please look after her," that's not enough. The person has to be in my heart, in my mind, for a little while. Then I hand him or her over to God, clad in the white garment of my forgiveness. That is when I forget them in the sense of forgiveness, but I remember them in the uniqueness of their person. Now, they're just like they were before. It can be done. I think love can do what is almost impossible."
