Forgiveness: A Lenten Reflection
Many of you know my son attends Christian Brother High School, an all-boys Catholic School in Memphis. As a protestant, it's been an interesting experience for him and a blessing for our family too. Each day during Lent the school sends out a daily reflection with commentary from teachers, staff, alumni and friends. All have been excellent but yesterday's caught my attention given the topic was forgiveness. Ah, forgiveness. It's what we encourage others to do and ask for from others when we've messed up or offended someone. It's also that incredibly difficult process we struggle with when someone has done something to us of such major proportion that we justify our decision not to forgive as righteous. It sounds and feels good but as I read scripture, that's not what Jesus commands of us. In discussing this very issue over lunch with a friend yesterday they asked if we were expected to forgive even when the offending party has never asked for it or for that matter, believes they've done nothing wrong. I encourage you to read the message below but in my interpretation of scripture, my response was "yes." We are commanded to forgive even when forgiveness is not sought. [...]