Forgive & Forget

Why is it so hard to forgive someone? Have you ever been in a situation where you think forgiveness and reconciliation are very remote and might not be possible?

Many a time, when someone hurts us deeply, we find it hard to forgive because we think that justice has not been served. Surely, someone must take the blame and that person should NOT be ME! Why should I be blamed when I was the victim? Why should I ask for forgiveness or reconcile, when I was the one who was wronged? Notice the similarity here? It is always about ME! I deserved an apology, I deserved to be comforted, and I deserve to have justice acted towards the wrong-doer. It’s ME, ME, ME, ME...

Now what did the Lord say and do about forgiveness? We have a perfect example here, for he is THE spotless VICTIM, everybody owe him a BIG apology, he deserved to be comforted and we should be punished because of the wrongs that we did and he was unjustly ‘punished’ for us. It’s like when the cops catches the wrong person and send the wrong man to the gallows. Once the man has passed, what we can do is only ask for forgiveness from his surviving kin, because he is dead and we cannot restore him to life.

Let us see what Jesus say about forgiving those who hurt us:

‘You have heard that it was said, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth”. But I tell you, DO NOT resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also’. (Matt.5:38-39)

‘But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’ (Matt.5: 44)

Jesus precisely addresses this issue at its face value. DO NOT resist does not mean don’t do anything. For an example, if someone is harming you, it does not mean you should stay there and wait to be killed or harmed. It simply means, DO NOT retaliate in kind to the aggressor. Turning the other cheek means to be prepared to endure, not passive surrender to one’s own fate. After that, he instructed us to love the enemies. Make no mistake; an ENEMY is not someone that we dislike or hate. It could be anyone close to us such as our families, friends and loved ones. When we go against the command to love, we are the ‘enemies’ of love and hence, the ‘enemies’ of everyone around us. After loving them comes the hardest part. We are called to pray for them as well. Now at this junction, I will be tempted to ask the question “WHY the heck should I pray for this horrible, egoistic, self-centred person who does not give an ounce of compassion and understanding towards me? WHY should I pray for his well-being and not curse him for his downfall?” The answer lies in the last words of Jesus on the Cross:

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Lk.23: 34)

Using these twelve words as our principle guide, let us dissect one by one these words of Jesus on WHY we SHOULD pray for our enemies.

First, Jesus called God as FATHER, meaning he acknowledged his humanness, of his limitations as a human and of God’s greatness as the source of everything in the world. He acknowledged that God as the Creator must have created something so good, because God himself is pure perfectness and goodness. Naturally, what comes from God should be perfect and good too. So, in effect, Jesus ‘confessed’ that his persecutors are ‘perfect and good’ by nature, because they were created by God too.

Next; “FORGIVE THEM”. Jesus did not dilly-dally when he prayed. He didn’t beat around the bush, telling God all those scourging that he received, all those spittle spat at him or those mocking which must have hurt him. He did not COMPLAIN to God first. He simply forgave them and asked God for forgiveness on their behalf first. Why? Because after forgiving, nothing else matters! All that matters is, everything is forgiven and restored to its original condition. Wait a minute, you say! ‘How about those wounds that he suffered? How about those humiliations that were handed down to him? Those tortures must have hurt him deeply, physically, mentally if not spiritually!’ Well, Jesus did not raise them up, because there is no point in doing so. His chief concern is his tormentors need forgiveness and they needed it fast. That’s why he did it before he died. He could have forgiven them later, when all the wrongs and rights have been weighed and justice meted out. But he chose to forgive them as fast as possible. Why? Because when you wronged someone, you don’t feel right. Therefore, it keeps on playing in your mind and becomes a burden and poison to your soul. So, forgiveness comes first, nothing else matters.

The next eight words will tell us why we should pray for our enemies. ...”for they DO NOT KNOW what they are doing”. How many times have we said some stupid things without thinking and ended up hurting someone dear to us? Or perhaps when we genuinely did not mean to hurt anyone with our actions and words, but it just came out horribly wrong? How many times did we “get back at ‘em” for things which we misunderstood in the first place and we embarrassed our loved ones in the public? Or because of our ego, we think that we deserved some respect and therefore people need to be perfect before they point out our mistakes? Because Jesus perfectly understands the nature of humans, he ‘deflected’ the blame from them, because the truth is, we don’t really know what we are doing most of the time. And because our enemies don’t know, therefore we should pray for God to illuminate and enlighten them of their errors and evil ways. We wish them all that are good because we don’t want them to endure the same pain that we had. The pain stops with me, let them be spared from all these tears and sorrow, pain and dejection. Wait! Why should I do all these? Is it not stupid? Why should they be spared from MY pain, MY tears and sorrow, MY pain and dejection? Answer: True love reacts mysteriously. It seems foolish and foolhardy, useless and cowardly. But this love is not selfish and vengeful. It is not self-centred and calculative or egoistic. Love just extends his hands, forgives and died on the Cross. And we are called to do the same, because we called ourselves Christians and people will know this by our love for one another (Jn.13: 35).

Disturb Us, Oh Lord--Sir Francis Drake's Prayer

For times when we are too complacent in our lives.........

 

Disturb Us, Oh Lord--Sir Francis Drake's Prayer

Disturb us, O Lord, when We are too pleased with ourselves; When our dreams have come true, Because we dreamed too little. We arrived safely, Because we sailed too close to shore. Disturb us, O Lord, when With the abundance of things we possess, We have lost our thirst For the waters of life; Having fallen in love with life, We have ceased to dream of eternity. And in our efforts to build a new earth, We have allowed our vision Of the new Heaven to dim. Disturb us, O Lord, to dare more boldly, To venture on wilder seas Where storms will show Your mastery; Where losing sight of land, We shall find the stars. We ask You to push back The horizons of our hopes; And to push us into the future In strength, courage, hope, and love. We ask in the name of our Captain, Who is Jesus.

 

Sacrament Of Confirmation

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION

The sacrament of confirmation is mentioned in passages such as Acts 8:14-17, 9:17, 19:6, and Hebrews 6:1-2, which speak of a laying on of hands for the purpose of bestowing the Holy Spirit. Of special importance is Hebrews 6:2 because it is not a narrative account of how confirmation was given and thus cannot be dismissed by those who reject the sacrament as something unique to the apostolic age. In fact, the passage refers to confirmation as one of the basic teachings of Christianity, which is to be expected since confirmation, like baptism, is a sacrament of initiation into the Christian life. We read: "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment" (Heb. 6:1-2).

MY SPIRIT IN YOU

Clearly, Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit. So what does that have to do with confirmation? Quite simply, Jesus promised his followers an anointing similar to that which they recognized in him: He instituted the sacrament of confirmation.

John wrote:

"He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, "‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’" Now this he said about the Spirit, which those who believed in him were to receive; for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (Jn 7:38-39)

John recognized that Christians were to receive a special anointing with the Holy Spirit, one that Jesus instituted for his followers. The fact that he would do so was even prophesied in the Old Testament:

I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. A new heart I will give you and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. (Ez. 36:25-27)

We can clearly see in this passage references to two of the sacraments of Christian initiation—baptism ("I will sprinkle clean water upon you") and confirmation ("I will put my spirit within you").

The apostles reveal this dual action of baptism and confirmation in practice. For example, Peter commanded Christians to be both baptized and confirmed (receive the gift of the Holy Spirit): "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

DISTINCT FROM BAPTISM

Some non-Catholics will point out that the Holy Spirit is at work in baptism. If so, aren’t these references to the reception of the Holy Spirit just implying baptismal graces, not confirmation graces?

That’s a good question, but Peter’s words in Acts 2 seem to refer to three distinct events: repentance; baptism for the forgiveness of sins (through the Holy Spirit); and reception of the gift of the Holy Spirit (confirmation).

This distinction between baptism and confirmation becomes clearer when we see that sometimes baptism was administered but the new Christians did not receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Consider this passage:

Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit; for it had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. (Acts 8:14-17)

These new Christians had received the sacrament of baptism—the reference to baptism "in the name of the Lord Jesus" confirms this. Such wording was often necessary in apostolic times to distinguish between Christian baptism and various other forms of baptism available at the time (such as John’s baptism and pagan baptisms). Since these Christians had been baptized, they had most certainly received the baptismal graces of the Holy Spirit (that is, forgiveness of sins) but, as Luke points out, the Holy Spirit "had not yet fallen on any of them"—they had not yet received the sacrament of confirmation.

Another striking example of the distinction between baptism and confirmation is found in Paul’s experience at Ephesus:

[Paul] said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?" And they said, "No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit." And he said, "Into what then were you baptized?" They said, "Into John’s baptism." And Paul said, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus." On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. (Acts 19:2-6)

Paul knew that these Ephesians had been baptized, so why question whether they had received the Holy Spirit unless he was asking if they had received something more than what baptism alone offered. It turns out that they had not received Christian baptism at all. We’re told that the Ephesians were baptized first, and then Paul "laid his hands upon them" for them to receive the Holy Spirit. These are clearly two different events: Baptism is not administered by the laying on of hands—it is administered by pouring water, or sprinkling, or immersing. Confirmation is administered by laying hands on the confirmand.

Baptism and confirmation, then, are two separate steps in the process of full initiation into Christ’s Church.

A LOST GIFT

As Scripture verifies, the Messiah, Jesus, was anointed with the Holy Spirit, and he offered this special gift to his followers as well. The apostles not only baptized new Christians, but they confirmed them often immediately afterward. That Luther and other Protestants would reject the sacrament of confirmation or downgrade confirmation to a mere non-sacramental ritual is tragic for the followers of those faiths. They are deprived of the fullness of the graces of full Christian initiation. In a word, those followers have been deceived. John wrote about such deception and warned early Christians—who had been confirmed—not to fall prey to it:

Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you will abide in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he has promised us, eternal life. I write this to you about those who would deceive you; but the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him. (1 Jn. 2:24-27)

Notice that John points to the "anointing"—that is, confirmation—that these Christians had received as their strength. They did not need teachers beyond John and those in authority who had taught them the authentic Christian faith "from the beginning"; the gift of the Holy Spirit would help keep them strong in the true faith.

This the Church still teaches today: "Confirmation . . . gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the cross" (CCC 1303).