Forgive and forget. We’ve been told that all our lives. And really, most of us would if we could. Yes, we know that resentment hurts us more than our enemies. But if forgetting must be part of our forgiveness, the task may be impossible, no matter how much we pray over it.
Perhaps, remember and move on is better advice. Sometimes, we really were wronged; the offense was committed. Reconciliation may not be possible or even advisable. And sometimes we are the one who has committed the offense; how do we then move toward reconciliation?
This study is being presented as a Zoom online course, starting February 4, 2021.
Resources for the study are below.
Forgiveness is . . . a word-cloud graphic
Forgiveness is not . . . a word-cloud graphic
A Meditation from John O’Donohue
Forgiveness is one of the really difficult things in life. The logic of receiving hurt seems to run in the direction of never forgetting either the hurt or the hurter. When you forgive, some deeper, divine generosity takes over. When you can forgive, then you are free. When you cannot forgive, you are a prisoner of the hurt done to you. If you are really disappointed in someone and you become embittered, you become incarcerated inside that feeling. Only the grace of forgiveness can break the straight logic of hurt and embitterment. It gives you a way out, because it places the conflict on a completely different level. In a strange way, it keeps the whole conflict human. You begin to see and understand the conditions, circumstances, or weakness that made the other person act as they did.
– John O’Dononhue
Excerpt from ETERNAL ECHOES page 134
A poem from John Philip Newell
We wake
to the forgiveness of a new day.
We wake
to the freedom to begin again.
We wake
to the mercy of the sun’s redeeming light.
Always new
always gift
always blessing.
We wake
to the forgiveness of this new day.
– John Philip Newell
From Praying with the Earth
Readings and practices for the week of Feb 8
Readings and practices for the week of Feb 22
Story and Forgiveness – a PowerPoint Presentation
The Wisdom Years 