,,,today we approach each other with a generous, forgiving and repentant heart for the small offenses we have given and received.
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Like the world around us, the life of the Church has always been marred by conflict. But where those in the world respond to strife with hatred and even violence, Christians forgive one another.
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Like the wicked servant, there are those who think human rights “ free” them from the Gospel.
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When, as Orthodox Christians, we emphasize the importance of human freedom (and all the rights and privileges that we have come to expect as Americans) our concern is in defending is the ability of the soul to imitate either the Harlot or Judas. Human freedom is not for us an end in itself. It is rather for something.
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…obedience to God gives me the freedom to respond all of life with hope. Yes, I fail and fall into sin. But sin never has the last word, hope remains; through repentance, forgiveness is always possible.
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I want to forgive those who harmed me. This is different from saying that the harm that was done doesn’t matter. I can’t ignore the past; it is unwise—and foolish—for me to try and create a new past out of whole cloth. I can’t create a past where we weren’t estranged, the past where I didn’t hurt you or you didn’t hurt me. To go down this path isn’t to forgive but to lie. Or maybe more gently, to confuse forgiveness with wishful thinking.
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It is here, in our obligation to forgive, that we find the reason for our asceticism, our repentance from sin and our cultivation of the life of virtue. All of this helps us, helps me, to forgive sincerely, generously and wisely.
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