WHEN  FORGIVING, 

THE   KEY  PERSON  
 TO FOCUS ON IS ________?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 11^th Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “When Forgiving, the Key Person to Focus on Is?”

In today’s gospel Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, ‘love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….”

WHEN IT COMES TO FORGIVENESS, WHOM TO FORGIVE?

Up till I was 60 or so, I accepted Jesus’ teaching about loving one’s enemies, turning the other cheek, going the extra mile, because Jesus said so to do so. Then when I began to listen, really listen, to people who were having family problems - or person problems -  with certain behaviors going on, I began to realize the heart of what Jesus was getting at.

I moved from acting out of experience - and not just authority.

For starters, when it comes to forgiveness, the key person is me.

The key issue is what not forgiving does to me - or to anyone who refuses to believe.

The key issue is what  is happening to me - when I become angry, bitter,  frustrated.

I can become sour.  I can become arthritic of soul.  I can have hurt in my hands and my wrists and then my lower arms, because my fists are often tight - with anger. So too my jaw - and then my face when a smile slips off my face.

Not good stuff.

THE CROSS

I think some more realizations came when I thought about Jesus saying while on the cross, “Father forgive him because he doesn’t know what he is doing.”

I wasn’t realizing when I wasn’t forgiving.

Then I realized the non-forgivers  can’t shut up about someone who hurt them  - whom they hate - whom they think is getting away with murder.

Then I realized what Nelson Mandela did - he forgave. For years I figured South Africa was going to go up in flames. Surprise. Mandela got out of prison on Robin Island. And there wasn’t a blood bath in the southern tip of Africa - like a Ritz Cracker dipped into a  bowl of tomato soup. Through the years - perhaps because of the smaller number of whites to blacks - because of the injustice, apartheid, anger, and seeing the running of crowds and police and the pushing for freedom, and all that - I expected more blood.

Then we all saw the black and white  race struggle in our south - and in our cities - in the north and south, east and west. We saw the and the riots and the fire hoses and angry dogs and police with sticks. We heard and read about and experienced the shooting of Martin Luther King

Then I saw the movie: Gandhi. 

Reflecting on all that - seeing all that - I got glimpses of what Jesus meant by turning the other cheek.

Rocks - thrown - in both directions - bring broken windows and bloody faces.

CONCLUSION

Then I heard someone say that forgiveness is at the core of Christ.

If we forgive others, if we drop the complaints, we lighten our spirit - and we fly better.

And surprise, not only are we helped when we forgive, so too others.