Only God Can Forgive?

I cannot forgive my partner who betrayed my trust and loyalty. I cannot forgive my friend who rejected me for no apparent reason. I cannot forgive our government leaders for their unending 'clandestine' activity. I cannot forgive myself for all the sins that I have committed.

I remember when I was deeply hurt by my cousin for putting my mother in a very humiliating situation. I hurt myself by punching the wall of my room so as just to displace my anger as  I wanted that time to retaliate by hurting my cousin. I was fuming with anger and I was cursing my cousin because she had hurt the one I love so much, my mother. My mother was crying and I was helpless then. I could only cry with her at that time. This, I consider as the most 'unforgivable' event in my life.

We all grew up in a Catholic faith that reminds us to forgive endlessly. What can be more painful for a Father to give up the life of His only Son for the sins He has never committed?  Because we condition ourselves to  believe that only God can forgive and that we are just but human who are born to sin with all our idiosyncratic thoughts and behaviors, we take this as an excuse not to forgive.  However, we are also taught by the same  Faith  that we are all created in God’s image and likeness. We are the Alter Christus – the Other Christ.  Hence, we continuously receive God’s loving grace and mercy through the sacraments. Thus, we are empowered to exercise and share the sacrament of reconciliation by making amends to our own being and to our fellowmen.  In that connection therefore, it is not true that only God can forgive and that we cannot forgive. I believe that this is the very essence why He was crucified and died on the cross. That this may serve as a true and living example for all of us to love others as He loves all of His creation. We become one with God as we continue to commemorate and experience His life of passion, death, and resurrection, which are all manifest actions of the greatest Love that the world has known.

Now, when I remember what my cousin has done to my mother,  I can only say THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO MY ONE AND TRUE GOD. Because of Him,  I was able to forgive in my heart and I don’t feel the pain anymore. It was a very liberating and soul inspiring experience of God’s unconditional love to me. I know that you can forgive too no matter how painful it may be because God is in you.

Like what St. Therese of the Child Jesus once said, “I will make my heaven by doing good on earth.” Let us continue to aspire for goodness and support each other as one Church of God in making this world a heaven of peace, love, and reconciliation for everyone.