Peace, Love, Mission, and Forgiveness

Listening to the Spirit

Dear Merciful Lord,

Thank you for your gift of forgiveness. Your only Son loved me enough to come to earth and experience the worst pain imaginable so I could be forgiven. Your mercy flows to me in spite of my faults and failures. Your Word says to "clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony." (Col. 3:14) Help me demonstrate unconditional love today, even to those who hurt me.

I understand that even though I feel scarred, my emotions don't have to control my actions. Father, may Your sweet words saturate my mind and direct my thoughts. Help me release the hurt and begin to love as Jesus loves. I want to see my offender through my Savior's eyes. If I can be forgiven, so can he. I understand there are no levels to your love. We are all your children, and your desire is that none of us should perish.

You teach us to "let the peace that comes from Christ rule in our hearts." (Col. 3:15) When I forgive in words, allow your Holy Spirit to fill my heart with peace. I pray this peace that only comes from Jesus will rule in my heart, keeping out doubt and questions. And above all, I am thankful. Not just today, not just this week, but always. Thank you for the reminder, "Always be thankful." (Col. 3:15) With gratitude I can draw closer to you and let go of unforgiveness. With gratitude I can see the person who caused my pain as a child of the Most High God. Loved and accepted. Help me find the compassion that comes with true forgiveness.

And when I see the person who hurt me, bring this prayer back to my remembrance, so I can take any ungodly thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5) And may the confidence of Christ in my heart guide me into the freedom of forgiveness. I praise you for the work you are doing in my life, teaching and perfecting my faith.

In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Source https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/prayer/a-prayer-for-forgiving-those-who-hurt-you.html

Listening to the Word

Jn 20:19-31

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord.

Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!"

But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

A week later, his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"

Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Reflection

In today's Gospel, Jesus appears twice to the disciples, when still "the doors were locked" for fear of the Jews. Jesus right away pronounces the greeting, "Peace be with you." He also shows the signs of his passion, the wounded hands, and his side. He shares to the disciples the mission that he received from the Father: "As the Fathers has sent me, so I send you." Then he breathes the Spirit into them, as God did for creating the man, and enable them to do the impossible, that is, forgiving sins. Finally, in the second part of the Gospel, Jesus appears also to Thomas, who becomes a believer after touching the Lord's wounds.

This Gospel is very rich. I fix my attention only to few elements, leaving the rest to your reflection.

First of all, the greetings of Jesus "Peace be with you." It is said three times. The first time and the third, after having given the greetings of peace, Jesus shows his wounds both to the disciples and Thomas. But why is Jesus still wounded? Was not he resurrected from the dead? If God resurrected him, why did he not finish this work by healing Jesus completely, restoring him to sound health? A possible answer is that the signs of his passion are the sign of his love, which was expressed in his death on the cross, and therefore they do not disappear after the resurrection because Jesus keeps on loving us with the same infinite love. This love, ready to lay down his life for you and for me, is very much real also today! Upon this awareness, we receive the gift of peace: "peace be with you!"

In the second greeting to the disciples, Jesus gives the gift of mission: "As the Father has sent me, so I send you." The mission connects with peace. The mission is the continuation of the love of God to the world, which started with the Son's incarnation. Being missionaries means to become aware that we are beloved children, just as the Son is loved by the Father. And as the Father has sent the Son, for sharing his love to everyone, so we take part in bringing this love to everyone, especially to those who are not aware yet of the love of God for them. The mission is not a job. The mission is mainly an experience of love: the awareness of being loved by God which triggers the eagerness to share the same awareness to our brothers and sisters. And as love is the foundation of the mission, then the mission is connected with peace: peace for the missionary and peace for those to whom the missionary is sent.

Finally, I would like to underline the gift of the Spirit, which is connected very much with forgiveness. Forgiveness is something divine. Only God is strong enough to forgive. We know by experience that once someone hurts us, it becomes tough to love him or her anymore. It is so easy to build walls that divide us, and it is so difficult to pull them down for reconciliation. And when we do not forgive, we assume the other person is not existing anymore: we avoid, we do not talk anymore, we stay away from him or her… We consider the other already "inexistent."

Yet, forgiving is the miracle to consider the other alive, to love back despite the pain of having been offended. To a certain extent, by forgiving, we "resurrect" the other in our hearts. For this reason, forgiving becomes very close to a process of re-creation of the other person. Then, for doing so, we need the help of God, the only Creator. He gives us the Spirit, which is his soul, his life, his strength, to be able to give life again to those who we were considering already "dead." He gives us his Spirit, the Creator Spirit, which is breathed in the man at the beginning (Gen 2:7). Finally, after having recreated the "other," through forgiveness, we will also find ourselves "re-created;" we find ourselves new, freer, happier… with peace in our hearth. This is the power of forgiveness, and this is what we celebrate today, the Sunday of Mercy.