Sun Lent C
“Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” We are all sinners. We are all weak. And yet at one point or another we have thrown “stones” at each other.
We are all sinners. We are all weak. We are all forgiven by God. Why do we find it difficult to forgive? What does it require to forgive. To forgive is “four gives” – to give four times.
First, to forgive is to give up pride. Forgiveness calls to be humble, to accept that we are all sinners, to understand the faults and failure of others and not to look down on them. Not to look at ourselves as if we are so much better than others. If we appreciate people who are humble so also others.
Second, to forgive is to give up selfishness. Forgiveness requires getting beyond the ego and think of the other person. The world is not a word of I, me and myself. If we need to be understood by people around us so also others.
Third, to forgive is to give another chance. We all need a second chance – the chance to correct our mistakes, to prove that we are not all failures; the chance to grow and change for the better, to improve and redeem ourselves. We all need the chance to change. If we require a second chance, so also others.
Fourth, to forgive is to give Jesus. When we forgive we let the other person experience the forgiveness of God. We become instruments of God’s mercy to another person. We become instruments of God. And that brings peace to us and to the other. If forgiveness from those we have hurt brings peace to us, so also to others.
Why does humanity find forgiveness difficult? Because forgiveness entails not a single kind of giving. It requires giving four times over. To forgive is to give four times. Ang magpatawad ay pagbibigay ng maka-apat na beses. This Lenten season let us ask the Lord that we may learn how to forgive, that we may be enabled how to give four times.
