Saint Luke’s Gospel instructed us to “Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.” In a week and a half we will arrive at the sacred season of Lent and thus draw closer to the cross of our Lord. It is my hope that we will be found prepared for this time which will soon be upon us. It was upon the cross that our Blessed Lord spoke of the importance of forgiveness, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Here our Blessed Lord is equating one’s ignorance to forgiveness. With every given situation we look at the problem at hand through the lens of our own eyes. We fail to dare to look into the eyes of the one that we cannot forgive in order to see where they may be coming from. Every one of us has our own point of view concerning everything that we do. No one has the perfect picture of this reality except for the Lord. So often we dare to judge another without getting the full picture of one’s given motives.
Fulton Sheen stated of forgiveness, “We know nothing about the inside of our neighbor’s heart, and hence we refuse to forgive. Jesus knew the heart inside out, and because He did know, He forgave. Take any scene of action, let five people look upon it, and you will get five different stories of what happened. Not one of them sees all sides. Our Lord does, and that is why He forgives.”
We should dare to point the finger inward upon ourself before we point it outward towards another. We can sit around and think that the Church or this or that would be better without that individual, but the true answer lies within ourself. We are the reason why others do not flock towards the Lord and His infinite font of mercy. This requires a true sense of humility within us for without humility we will always desire to be exalted.
Let us begin to cultivate among ourselves a true spirit of understanding. Understanding does not mean that we except sin as good nor injustices as something that are right and just. Understanding looks into the depths of the heart of another and desires to discern what may be taking place within them. We are so willing to judge, but so unwilling to forgive. We are so willing to criticize, but so unwilling to understand.
As the Lenten season soon comes upon us let us look for ways in which can come to forgive. The cross is about forgiveness. Without the cross none of us would be redemeed. The Lord died upon the cross in order that we may be forgiven of our sins. He did not come in order to die for the righteous who are found without sin, but for the sinful who were in need of redemption. In like manner let us come to refrain from judging other, refrain from condemning, and learn to forgive. When we are able to do this we will better come to emulate our Lord and what He offers us from the cross.
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