John Kavanaugh, a wonderful Jesuit preacher and lover of the Gospel, used to say that there is such a thing as “Irish” Alzheimer’s: You forget everything but your resentments. Even though he was joking, he touched on something that anyone, Irish or not, can identify with-- the difficulty to forgive, especially when one has been hurt or betrayed in some way. It is easy to say that we need to forgive others. (Jesus tells Peter that we need to forgive over and over (seventy times seventy.)
It is not as easy to do what it takes to forgive or let go of our resentments. (A resentment has been described as an acid that poisons its own container.) We cannot always just “forgive and forget.” We need grace from God to follow the teaching and example of Jesus—sometimes we have to ask God to do for us what we can’t do for ourselves!
The first reading for this Sunday’s liturgy speaks of God’s covenant. The fulfillment of that covenant is the pouring out of Jesus’ life for us: “the new covenant in His blood.” We want our journey in life to be one of companionship with him, letting Jesus bring us to where we need to be.
There is a beautiful South African hymn, Ukuthula, that expresses so well this mystery of love:
Peace in this world of sin the blood of Jesus brings…. Redemption in this world of sin the blood of Jesus brings…
We continue to pray for the freedom to love and forgive as Jesus does.
-Fr. Len Kraus, SJ
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