My day yesterday with coloured with the theme of forgiveness. The mid-morning news reported on the funeral of Sammy Yatim, the young man recently shot and killed by police in Toronto. During and after the service his family were clear in their intent to not seek revenge or blame the police but to take a position of forgiveness while asking that the situation that led to their grief be reviewed to prevent such an occurrence happening again.
The evening news, as I prepared dinner, told of the judgement being rendered to 53-year -old Ariel Castro the Cleveland man who captured and held three women subjecting them to years of sexual abuse and physical violence. The report said the judge thanked Amanda Knight, one of the survivors, for showing “remarkable restraint” during Castro’s statement to the court room in which he tried to convince the judge that he had provided a harmonious home for the women. Another report said that one of the women stated that she forgave him.
In talking with a parishioner yesterday afternoon he told me he is working on forgiveness toward a family member who has rejected him. It has taken him some years to get to this point.
Forgiveness is hard soul work. As I meet and talk with parishioners I know that it is one of the most difficult aspects of the Christian walk. Jesus spoke about forgiveness and I would guess, based on the disciples questions and comments back to him that they too found it a hard emotion to get their heads around. Retribution and retaliation can feel so much better in the moment but I know from reading and personal experience that the best long-term solution for peace of mind and well-being is forgiveness. Saying that doesn’t make it easy to do.
Do you have some forgiveness work to do? Do you have any tips as to how to walk the road of forgiveness?
