The need to experience forgiveness (Mt 18:21-35)
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Cycle A
When people (especially the young) ask me, why we Catholics have to go to a priest for confession, and why can’t we confess our sins directly to God, I try to offer them several reasons as to why I myself go for confession. One of the more meaningful answers that I give is: I want to hear through a human voice that God has forgiven me. This reason is consistent with the theology of sacraments – visible signs of internal grace.
When I was making the 30-day Ignatian Spiritual Exercises, one of the high points during that retreat was the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation. After the first eight days of silence and prayer, memories of hurt and guilt […]
Forgiveness
Lecture 8: Character Strengths of Altruism: Kindness, Love, Forgiveness
Kindness
Kindness, generosity, nurturance, care, compassion, altruistic love, and “niceness” are closely related terms that indicate “a common orientation of the self toward the other” (Peterson & Seligman, 2004, p.326). Kindness consists in doing favours or good deeds to others, while compassion is more related to the emotion evoked at the sufferings of others. Compassion becomes significant when the troubles of the other person are serious, not self-inflicted, and the agent of compassion is able to picture oneself in the same predicament as the one in trouble (Cassell, 2005, p.435). Assessing kindness involves very practical indicators as in:
I have voluntarily helped a neighbour in the last month.
I always call my friends when they are sick
Love
Peterson and Seligman attempt to define love in terms of psychology:
Love represents a cognitive, behavioural, and emotional stance toward others that takes three prototypical forms. One is love for the individuals who are our primary sources […]
Prayer of Forgiveness
One of the blocks in prayer is unwillingness to forgive. Would you like to try forgiving someone in prayer?