Forgive them, for they know not what they do

Forgiveness.
Human beings have an absolute need for forgiveness.
Although sharers of God's nature, we are not God, not perfect, therefore we make mistakes, we fall short, we sin.

The medicine for sin, the cure for our mistakes, is two fold - forgiveness and repentance (or change of attitude and behaviour).

How wonderful and powerful it is to receive forgiveness when we have done something wrong and offended another.

How freeing it is, to all parties involved, when we can offer forgiveness to another who has wronged us.

When Jesus, who is like us in every way yet without sin, was being nailed to the cross, he prayed "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."


Saint Aelred, in his "Mirror of Love," writes "Who could listen to that wonderful prayer, so full of warmth, of love, of unshakeable serenity—Father, forgive them—and hesitate to embrace his enemies with overflowing love?"


Whether the one who has offended us desires forgiveness or not, our freedom is in our forgiving anyway. The behaviour needs to be addressed, but we are not to be held in bondage by the offence - like Jesus, we are to be free and forgive, and to be open to Love even in the midst of darkness. 

Saint Aelred reminds us again that "If one wishes to savor the joy of brotherly and sisterly love with greater perfection and delight, he must extend even to his enemies the embrace of true love."

The way for us to love our enemies, to love even those who injure us, is to keep our inner, spiritual eyes fixed on the Risen Love that is Christ, that neither sin nor death can keep down.