We all know that not only are we supposed to forgive, our salvation is practically dependent on it.
But it can be hard. How, how, how to forgive when anger bubbles to the surface every day?
Waiting in Joyful Hope has a suggestion, and it sounds like a good one.
The first process is to make the decision to forgive, remembering that forgiveness is a decision not a feeling.
Once we have made that decision, we must remember all the things that have caused this need for forgiveness.
Then we must list all the other points that have been blessings from this person we need to forgive.
The next point is the most crucial of all, when anger surfaces, we must not bring the list of hurts to mind, but only the list of blessings, and then the anger will subside.
This of course is an ongoing process and one that I need to work on every day. I know in time that I will be able to automatically go to the blessing list and forget the injustice list. All this of course with God’s grace and Mary’s intercession.
Maybe this appeals to me only because I am such a listmaker. Lists promise to solve so many problems. Don't they? Nevertheless, this formula seems worthy of effort.
(H/t Disputations, who adds:
We are, of course, obliged to pray for our enemies, an obligation that would seem to extend to those who aren't our enemies so much as people we flat don't like.
It is, I find, a very liberating experience -- animosity and anger being what we're liberated from -- to simply pray that God give them the graces they need to fulfill God's will for them, without reminding God what His will for them is.
That is, to pray, "Fill his heart with Your love," without adding, "so that he'll finally stop being such an idjit."
True.)
Comments