Forgiveness

As a priest, one of the more meaningful experiences in the ministry is to hear confessions of people who are about to transition to the next life. Typically, it is a long confession: Further, after the confession, the typical question is, “Has God really forgiven me of my sins?” The well-known parable of the prodigal…

Anger

During Confession, there are penitents who confess that they got angry. The question is usually, “Is anger a sin?” Even Jesus got angry when the temple was being turned into a marketplace. He also got angry when rules were more important than people when the children were not allowed to come to him, when the…

Forgiveness

While people need people, we all know that no relationship is perfect. There are people who have brought us happiness, there are people who have brought us pain. Hence, the challenge is to forgive. Jesus was asked how many times should one forgive? Seven times. Seven times in the Jewish tradition means a lot. However,…

Forgiveness

Certainly, all of us have been hurt. If somebody curses us, then out of instinct, we curse back. If somebody puts one over us, we will inevitably wait for the right opportunity to put one over that person. How often have we heard: it is life that they got, it is life that we will…

What Forgiveness Can Do

Matthew 10:16-23 The story of Joseph is perhaps one of the most popular Old Testament stories. In fact, it was made into a play named “Joseph the Dreamer” Joseph was the 11th child of Jacob. His stepbrothers were envious of him because he was the favorite of Jacob, and so they sold him as a…

Forgiveness

John 20:19-23 One of the most difficult things to live with is when you know you have wronged or hurt someone. The worst scenario is when the person you have hurt passes away. I was once at a funeral wake and before the start of the Mass, a sibling of the deceased came in and…