Fr. Ferdinando Colombo: Forgiving Offenses
Actualizing the works of mercy through the eyes of Fr. Ferdinando Colombo
It is the only Work of Mercy that does not look at people. But it does look at one thing: the offense. It is broader than that. It has no boundaries. It is not limited to one category, because it covers and invests the hearts of all of us. Day by day. Because forgiveness is in fact decisive and discriminating in the construction of society and the family. Because it starts from the heart and speaks to the heart!
Forgiveness is then the pinnacle for the believer. It is the human action that most of all corresponds to the divine one. But the social significance of forgiving offenses is also immense. For where there is forgiveness, there is garden, growth, the fragrance of blessing. On the contrary, where there is no forgiveness, there advances the desert and everything closes, freezes.
And just as forgiveness is the gesture that brings us closest to God the Father, so forgiveness is the truest sign of our dignity as men. In forgiveness, admirably, heaven and earth, God and Man, humility and greatness are thus intertwined. (Giancarlo Bregantini)
At the most dramatic moment of his earthly presence, Jesus breaks the chains tightened by his assailants, breaks down the wall erected by his executioners, deeply shocking our hearts with the forgiveness he extends to his tormentors, piercing with a flash the darkness of that terrible moment, when he asks the Father to forgive them, “forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” (Claudio Barbieri)
Among the unheard of Gospel directions, perhaps the most surprising is this one: “If your brother sins seven times a day against you and seven times a day says to you, I repent, you will forgive him” (Luke 17:4). This is already a difficult feat; but at least here we are dealing with an offender who apologizes. In fact, Christ’s overall teaching is broader and more unconditional: “When you pray, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your sins” (Mk 11:25). At this school the apostles teach, “Do not render evil for evil to anyone (Rom 12:17); rather, ‘bless those who persecute you’ (Rom 12:14).
It is a language that we have in our ear and no longer impresses us. But its practical implementation is far removed from human customs, in- which resentments and cultivated grudges dominate. One of the strongest causes of social malaise is precisely the raging hatred and revenge, which trigger an endless chain of reprisals and thus suffering. Hence the importance of the fifth mercy that the Church brings to the world: the incitement to make the “culture of forgiveness” prevail in everyone. (Cardinal Giacomo Biffi)
The Lord’s Prayer resolutely places us under a magnifying glass, confronting us with our responsibilities and inviting us to consciously examine our position. Which on the one hand must become active in giving substance to forgiveness and on the other hand must defer to the Lord’s mercy in the request to be forgiven. “ … and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors…” We see at once that a substantial truth is present in the process of forgiveness: those who have an awareness of God’s forgiveness know how to forgive. For by looking with compassion and mercy on those who have offended us, we also recognize that we are offenders and therefore in need of humbly and confidently asking for God’s forgiveness. (Claudio Barbieri)
The courage and strength to forgive constitute the soul of the Christian life, but also the way to build deep and lasting human relationships. Jesus continually invites us to forgive offenses. Of course, forgiving is difficult; in the world it sometimes appears as a weak reaction, almost against our spontaneous instinct. Revenge, on the other hand, appears as the reaction of a strong person. But revenge solves nothing, on the contrary: it makes the heart more and more bitter, shuts it in on itself, acts as a poison that can have devastating effects. (Hermann Geissler F.S.O.)
“Heartfelt” forgiveness helps us not to keep a dossier on the other person in our memory, which is always reactivated when another little thing happens. In this sense, the following invitation from Mother Julia is very important: “Let today be the day for you when you put an end to the past. Let today be the day when you set fire to all the debt books, ledgers and accounts that you still keep in your hearts: burn everything in the fire of God’s merciful love. That’s right, light a great fire: the greater the debt, the stronger the light will erupt. Behave differently toward each other, as if you were seeing each other for the first time; yes, I repeat, forget everything you have stored up in your minds. Begin again with the help of grace and faith” (Jan. 25, 1981). (The Venerable Mother Julia, Mexican 1881 – 1974 – Missionary Daughters of the Most Pure Virgin Mary)
But how far humanity has come in this hard and demanding but so liberating journey on the road to forgiveness! And in each step, in each stage, humanity has grown. It has freed itself from the tragedy of revenge, from the positive theorizing of war (although it remains in our hearts as tragic “folly!”), from the death penalty!
And now, precisely starting from the forgiveness of offenses, we have new challenging goals to achieve, such as the verification and improvement of the prison system, the progressive elimination of life imprisonment, new spaces for reconciliation in the family, a respectful mode of politics and trade unions, the strength of nonviolence the custody of Creation! (Claudio Barbieri)
Prayer
God the Father’s plan of love, his heart is well highlighted in the famous preface in the second Eucharistic prayer
of Reconciliation, which reads as follows:
“We recognize your love as Father when you bend the hardness of man and in a world torn by strife and discord,
you make him available for reconciliation.
By the power of the Spirit, you act in the depths of hearts, so that enemies open themselves to dialogue,
adversaries shake hands
and peoples meet in concord.
By your gift, O Father, the sincere pursuit of peace extinguishes strife, love conquers hatred, and vengeance is disarmed by forgiveness!”
Online version of the book by clicking on “The Work of Mercy – Fr. Ferdinando Colombo – browsable”
Photo
- “Le Opere di Misericordia“, fr. Ferdinando Colombo