Greetings,
Who of us are in need of forgiveness? No seriously, which one of us needs to be forgiven for hurting someone in our family, friends, our God, or even ourselves?
On Saturday, March 20th at a retreat for the Catholic Council of Women at St. Boniface, St. Bonifacius we all heard a story of hurt and pain, and one of ultimate surrender to God’s unconditional love, of God’s redeeming power… We had a speaker come in and share her story publically of growing up in a dysfunctional family. We heard her share her own attempt to bury the pain of the past. To run away from her experience growing up and her attempt to medicate through alcohol. It was a very beautiful story of how God seemed to have known that she ultimately needed to be broken in order for to be healed. Just like all of us who have known what it’s like to have experienced pain from the past and how it has affected the decisions we make in our lives now. It is interesting that the pain and suffering we experience in this life can move us, almost to the edge… of choosing a life of bitterness and anger or a life of peace and love. Our own sinfulness can create in us this inability to forgive others and even ourselves.
In the conversion process, the healing process, it has been my experience with many of those I have encountered…that one of the last areas of conversion in one’s life is this learning how to forgive oneself for our own bad decisions, the hurt and pain we may have caused family or friends, or really anyone around us. Forgiveness is one of God’s greatest qualities. And when we imitate God in forgiving those around us, often times family (those closest to us can hurt us the deepest) and even our selves… we begin to grow in that most important aspect of conversion, interior freedom. As we learn to imitate God by forgiving everyone around us for everything they may have done to us, including ourselves for our own mistakes, then we begin to mature in the spiritual life…and begin to experience the freedom of the children of God.
Maybe you have heard about the woman caught in adultery. It is a very powerful story in which the scribes and pharisees attempt to trap Jesus by using the sin of this woman. The Mosaic Law, the law of the Old Testament, prescribes death for the woman caught in adultery. It is a well-known story that points out all sorts of unfairness in the society of Jesus’ day… the stoning of the woman caught in adultery (where was the man), the double standard between men and women, and the death penalty itself used as a very cruel tool. The trap sprung on Jesus here, is that if he says yes to the stoning of the woman… then he will break the Roman law of the time that says that the Jewish people may not put anyone to death and thus He would become an insurrectionist. But if Jesus says no then He will be breaking the Mosaic Law which states that she should be stoned. Ultimately, Jesus challenges the crowd away from judgment. Jesus encourages them and each one of us where sin abounds, to both pardon and to ask to be pardoned. In response to the situation, Jesus simply writes in the sand. We do not know what He writes, but he seems to wait for the executioners to make a decision. He challenges them that the one who has no sin to cast the first stone. We are all sinners in need of Jesus’ redeeming power. He forgives the woman and will forgive us of everything if we are sorry and choose to turn away from our sin. Each of the executioners slowly drops their stone and walks away. After they have all left, Jesus comes over to the woman and chooses to not condemn her either. We must always remember that the heart of the law is mercy. And Jesus gives us the perfect example of an unconditional, nonjudgmental love. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn it, but rather, to save it. We need to learn to let God do the judging. We are called to unite with heaven, with the angels and the saints, to not judge anyone for their sins, but rather to simply help them to turn away from their sin. In heaven there is no judgment or self-righteousness. There is only forgiveness and a desire to simply help us turn away from our sin. Jesus teaches us not to condemn the woman and then neither does He. As we move toward Easter, let us go to the Lord, seeing our own sins for what they are, and asking God’s forgiveness. And let us be generous in our forgiveness of others. Again, when we forgive others and ourselves we mature in the spiritual life, and live in the light. We begin to live in the freedom of the children of God.
Peace, Fr Tom Balluff
