If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions. (Matthew 6:14-15 NABRE)
Matthew's gospel depicts Jesus as having made this statement during his Sermon on the Mount, just after teaching his followers how to pray the Our Father.*
Forgiveness can be so difficult to give. In our hurt, in our anger, in our pride, our human nature leads us to protect ourselves. We want to defend whatever it is that has been harmed, threatened, or attacked. And "Why not?" we ask! "Why shouldn't we protect what is ours?" "Why should we endure mistreatment?" And most of all, we ask, "Why should we forgive?"
We forgive so that God our father will forgive us for all the times we offend him by our thoughts or our words or our actions.
It can help to remember Jesus' words as he hung nailed to the cross, bleeding, beaten, insulted, wrongly accused, humiliated in front of all his friends and even his mother: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Today, I will decide to forgive even those who do not deserve it, because I need God's forgiveness even more.
Saint Joseph, husband of Mary and father to Jesus, pray for us.
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