on forgiveness

Among the most powerful of human experiences is to give or to receive forgiveness.  I am told that two-thirds of the teaching of Jesus is directly or indirectly about this mystery of forgiveness…  

 

…When we forgive, we choose the goodness of the other over their faults, we experience God’s goodness flowing through ourselves, and we also experience our own goodness in a way that surprises us.

                               Richard Rohr (the wisdom pattern, p. 155)

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reconciliation can only happen between equals

 

it is when we are on common ground

level ground

which is Sacred ground

 

that we can find each other

touch each other

and through that touch, heal the wounds

 

we will not make them disappear

those places where flesh has been torn

hearts have been torn

 

scars will remain

and the process of healing may be slow

 

but still, those places where we are

open, raw, bleeding

can be knit together through the alchemy

of forgiveness

 

forgiveness received

ah

that is an amazing thing

 

before forgiveness we

cautiously tip-toe around the other

the un-healed, untended wounds making both of us raw

 

we wonder what they are thinking

we worry about how they feel

we act as all is right

but we know it is not, and there is a veil between

 

we are hindered

we reach out our hand but cannot quite feel

the warmth of the other underneath our finger tips

which can graze but not touch

 

but when forgiveness comes the veil is torn

perhaps not gone

and we can reach through

and tentatively touch again

and feel the warmth of affection

 

the power of forgiveness comes not just from

the forgiver

but also from the forgiven

 

it comes from the cry of the heart

that knows

that cries with the prodigal

I have sinned

 

Sometimes forgiveness has to be asked for

not because the forgiveness needs to be asked for grace

but because the forgiveness needs to ask

 

because forgiveness like love

is more powerful when the effort comes from both sides

because forgiveness is love

 

and the plea for forgiveness is received and bears fruit

when there the one who receives it

knows that they too need to be forgiven

 

reconciliation between human creatures

forgiveness too

happens between equals

 

while God forgives and reconciles from a place

of pure virtue

we do not

 

and if I try to offer forgiveness

or receive forgiveness

without realizing my own need to be forgiven, and forgive

 

my efforts become something else

a kind of toxic forgiveness

that does not free but burdens

 

forgiveness that works

emerges from humility

from the agony of our own failure

 

it can only be given from that place

and only received from that place

 

in an odd way, our ability to recognize what is not good

be it in ourselves

or in another

 

is what frees us to choose and embrace the good

in ourselves or in others

 

it is what frees us to see ourselves

and those around us as Children of God

 

and it is what frees us to experience

the original blessing

 

love