arunangelo
Member
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2005
- Messages
- 247
We can never have true peace until we love our enemies and forgive them. Furthermore, we can never have peace in our heart if we hate, reject or condemn any person. When God created us, He put his own Holy Spirit (the spirit of love) in us in order to give life to our soul. In doing this He allowed us to share in His own life and made us His children. Because of our pride, we rejected His spirit and friendship, and chose selfishness. In doing this, we betrayed God and brought death to our souls. God, however, did not take revenge, condemn us, give up on us or hold resentment against us. On the contrary, because of His love for us, He wanted to save our soul from death. He therefore, compensated for our sins (that we committed against him), forgave us, and put His life back in us by sacrificing His own. In other words, He the victim, compensated for the crimes, we the convicts, committed against Him by His own life. In doing this He showed us that to truly love and forgive, is not only to give up resentment or claim we have against our offenders, but also to compensate for their wrongdoings (against us). We can compensate for the wrong doings of our offenders, by helping them to overcome their weaknesses, by our prayers and acts of sacrificial love (on their behalf). Sacrifice empties our heart of selfishness. This makes our heart open to accepting God’s love for them. In prayer we become intimate with him. This allows him to enter our heart and purify our spirit. When we make sacrifice on behalf of others and pray for them, we accept God’s help on their behalf. We can accept God’s help on behalf of others, when our love for them makes us one with them.
To God, each of us is His child. He therefore, has infinite love for each one of us. He has special love for those whom the world considers as the worst sinners; because, they need His help the most. He is a loving father, who wants all His children to be saved. We as His children are brothers and sisters. We are therefore; called to love all our brothers and sisters, including those despised by the world. We have to bring them home, home to our Father’s home.
Forgiveness is an act of self-giving love and mercy. It frees us from resentment, hate and anger, and brings us peace and joy. We should therefore, forgive without limit. If we do not forgive each of our offenders from our heart, we do not have love in our heart. When people hurt us, we feel we have lost something. This makes us vengeful and hateful, and takes away peace and joy from our heart. We demand compensation in order to take revenge and get back something in exchange for what we have lost. However, if we realize that God's life in us is our only true treasure (which no one can take away from us), and that everything else is temporary (and therefore worthless), we would never feel we have lost anything and have resentment. Furthermore, because of God’s life in us, we would be merciful toward our offenders and help them in their healing process. We have to remember that in order to accept God's mercy (which brings us Heaven) we have to believe in it by showing the same mercy to others (Matt. 6: 14-15).
Most of us have great difficulty in forgiving others. We demand justice, and want to inflict punishment on them. We usually forget that, we ourselves are sinners and have gravely offended God on numerous occasions. We also forget that God did not take revenge when we offended him. On the contrary, he forgave our sins and took the punishment of our sins upon himself by dying on the cross. We should therefore, refrain from any act of revenge, open our heart to God, and ask Him to do whatever it takes to change our heart. Sometimes, even when we want to make up with our offenders, it is hard for us to open up to them and express our love for them, because of the bitter feelings we have had in the past. In such situations, we can express our love for them through our prayers and through the sacrifices we make on their behalf. When we do this, we allow the spirit of God who is present in all of us, to communicate our feelings to them. In addition, our prayers and sacrifices will purify our thoughts towards them, and thereby bring peace to them and us.
To God, each of us is His child. He therefore, has infinite love for each one of us. He has special love for those whom the world considers as the worst sinners; because, they need His help the most. He is a loving father, who wants all His children to be saved. We as His children are brothers and sisters. We are therefore; called to love all our brothers and sisters, including those despised by the world. We have to bring them home, home to our Father’s home.
Forgiveness is an act of self-giving love and mercy. It frees us from resentment, hate and anger, and brings us peace and joy. We should therefore, forgive without limit. If we do not forgive each of our offenders from our heart, we do not have love in our heart. When people hurt us, we feel we have lost something. This makes us vengeful and hateful, and takes away peace and joy from our heart. We demand compensation in order to take revenge and get back something in exchange for what we have lost. However, if we realize that God's life in us is our only true treasure (which no one can take away from us), and that everything else is temporary (and therefore worthless), we would never feel we have lost anything and have resentment. Furthermore, because of God’s life in us, we would be merciful toward our offenders and help them in their healing process. We have to remember that in order to accept God's mercy (which brings us Heaven) we have to believe in it by showing the same mercy to others (Matt. 6: 14-15).
Most of us have great difficulty in forgiving others. We demand justice, and want to inflict punishment on them. We usually forget that, we ourselves are sinners and have gravely offended God on numerous occasions. We also forget that God did not take revenge when we offended him. On the contrary, he forgave our sins and took the punishment of our sins upon himself by dying on the cross. We should therefore, refrain from any act of revenge, open our heart to God, and ask Him to do whatever it takes to change our heart. Sometimes, even when we want to make up with our offenders, it is hard for us to open up to them and express our love for them, because of the bitter feelings we have had in the past. In such situations, we can express our love for them through our prayers and through the sacrifices we make on their behalf. When we do this, we allow the spirit of God who is present in all of us, to communicate our feelings to them. In addition, our prayers and sacrifices will purify our thoughts towards them, and thereby bring peace to them and us.
