There is nothing quite so poisonous to us both physically and spiritually as pent up anger and hate, and this is especially true when it is something we have harbored against others for a long time. To hold onto a grudge against someone, no matter how bad the transgression they committed, is to harm oneself, and to fail to show gratitude to the One who took upon himself all the suffering, humiliation, insults, and abuse that was rightfully ours to endure. You see, when we hold a grudge against our brother or sister, we are not only failing to love another child of God, we are failing to show proper love and respect for Him who gave himself up for us. If we look at it through the eyes of Christ’s suffering, our issues with others will be put into proper perspective. This is not to say we will not feel some hurt when we are transgressed against, but we must take that hurt and offer it up to the One who gave all for us, and then let it go. We must forgive, we must allow healing within ourselves, and we must be willing to allow our relationship with others to heal. As children of God, we are called to take the higher, more difficult path, but also the one that leads to salvation. It will not always be easy. It’s going to require effort, introspection, and especially prayer, but it is something that must be overcome with effort and with God’s grace, because if it is not, we cannot hope to enter His kingdom. There is absolutely no room in heaven for anger, hate, or selfish vengeance. There is only one who is worthy to judge, and He has told us that if we do not extend mercy and forgiveness toward others, we will not receive mercy ourselves. To be judged without God’s mercy is to invite certain destruction, because the fact is, we all fail, we all commit transgressions against others, and we all sin in this way. Sin is sin – another’s sins are no more heinous than our own. Even though the gravity of the act committed can be different, it is still unacceptable to God. God hates all sin. We cannot justify our grievances and failure to forgive by contrasting our sins with those of others; This is a sure path to failure because you are making yourself a judge, and the fact is, there is only one Judge.
We all, each of us, operate at a debt to God. One we cannot possibly repay. We are very much like the poor servant we heard about in the Gospel. We have no way to pay back our Master, so how can we then expect to receive some compensation from others as a condition of our forgiveness? We received our forgiveness without cost, for our multitude of sins, from the one who we hurt the most by our actions. Are we then to allow the offenses of others to keep us from following our Lord’s example? No matter what we tell ourselves about how we have been hurt by someone else, it pales in comparison with the abuse, rejection, pain, and loneliness that we subject our Lord to by our sins. This is what we must always keep in the front of our minds.
Each day is a new opportunity to extend forgiveness. We must not wait, because none of us knows how long we have, or whether or not there will be a tomorrow to offer us again the same opportunity. The time is now; There is no more time for waiting a little longer to get over it, or for our anger or resentment to cool. If we do this we are inviting upon ourselves the fallout of the missed opportunity of forgiveness and to be caught off-guard and to face the merciless judgement that we have then earned.
Today is Sunday, it is the Lords day, and I can think of no better day to stop and take the time to reach out to someone who we have unresolved issues with, to extend the peace of forgiveness, and to try to mend our relationship with that person. Even if they are not agreeable to this, we must try. Take the time today, allow your heart to open to anyone whom you hold resentment toward, and cut it loose, forgive, and then experience the peace from God that will come of that. We are sometimes masters of holding things in and harming ourselves in the process. Allow instead the healing from the Divine Physician to work in you and bring you healing as part of the fruits of the forgiveness that you have extended. Know the Lord’s peace.
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The Deacons Bench 