Every day of Lent, Bishop Edward Malesic writes a Scripture reflection for the faithful. Follow the bishop on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Click HERE for the readings.
The image that Jesus uses in the Gospel is very descriptive. When speaking about the amount of forgiveness we should offer to those who have harmed us, Jesus adds, “For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
When someone hurts us and asks for our forgiveness, I would say that it is better to use gallon jugs to forgive rather than ¼ teaspoons.
But we know that forgiveness is sometimes very difficult. We tend to hold on to past hurts. The truth is, the more we hold on to those past hurts, the more we are kept from being completely free in the future. We can sometimes believe that our lack of forgiveness is hurting the one who has harmed us, when our lack of forgiveness is actually eating away at us like a spiritual cancer.
Think of your deepest, greatest sin and then realize that God forgave that sin when you confessed it. And now try to use that same measure of forgiveness, the measure of God’s forgiveness, when you are asked to forgive someone else. Or, in the words of Jesus, “Be merciful, just your Father is merciful.”