“The Lord never tires of forgiving. It is we who tire of asking for forgiveness.” – Pope Francis
“You have the power to take away someone’s happiness by refusing to forgive. That someone is you.” – Alan Cohen
“Anger makes you stronger, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you are.” – Cherie Carter-Scott
The most frequently recited or spoken part of the Bible is the Lord’s prayer. There are basically three petitions in this prayer:
A. Give us daily bread
B. Forgive us our debts
C. Deliver us from evil.
Note that we pray collectively. We do not say: “Forgive me my debts.” We all need forgiveness and we are all in this together.
We can ask other people to forgive us – and that is a good thing to do. If someone else says: “I forgive you” that can feel really good, but also incomplete. We need to forgive ourselves, but how can we do this without power from above?
The way the Lord forgives us, is by delivering us from evil. That is to say, he not only says: “paid in full, you do not owe me anything,” but at the same time removes from our heart those unclean motives that led us to do evil in the first place.
