This Lent Discover God's Love In A Retreat - St. Augustine Catholic
This Lent Discover God's Love In A Retreat - St. Augustine Catholic
This Lent Discover God's Love In A Retreat - St. Augustine Catholic
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<strong>In</strong> the terrorist bombing of a jet<br />
aircraft a few years ago, the<br />
parents of a young boy from the<br />
Midwest were killed. A memorial<br />
service was prepared for them but the<br />
orphaned boy asked for an addition. He<br />
asked that they all pray for those who were<br />
responsible for his parents’ deaths, asking<br />
God to give the terrorists a change of<br />
heart.<br />
That’s forgiveness, to pray for a change<br />
of heart in those who injured you. That’s<br />
what Jesus is asking his disciples to do. It<br />
is true conversion.<br />
Father John Powell, a Jesuit theologian<br />
and psychologist, tells us, “Our lives are<br />
shaped by those who love us and by those<br />
who refuse to love us.”<br />
We all sin; we’re all hurting; we all need<br />
forgiveness. And it is through forgiveness<br />
that we can become healed.<br />
Sin has been described in contemporary<br />
moral theology as “a refusal to<br />
love.” Therefore, we are sinners when we<br />
refuse to love.<br />
How do we sin by not loving? Are we<br />
sinners of commission — doing things we<br />
shouldn’t do? Or are we sinners of<br />
omission — not doing things we should<br />
have done?<br />
We sin by omission when we could<br />
have responded in love and did not. When<br />
we could have been present for another,<br />
when he or she was needing support,<br />
comfort or affirmation, we were too busy.<br />
We probably don’t know anybody who<br />
is starving or dying of thirst or who is<br />
homeless, but we all know people who are<br />
starving for affection, who are thirsting for<br />
compassion, who need shelter from<br />
loneliness. We are often too busy to reach<br />
out as we should; and, we, too, need to be<br />
forgiven.<br />
So before learning to forgive others, we<br />
must first learn to forgive ourselves. What<br />
do you do? We have to learn to let go. “Let<br />
go and let God” is an expression we’ve all<br />
heard at one time or another.<br />
Martin Luther concluded that all we<br />
needed was faith in God and we would<br />
be redeemed from our sinfulness. We<br />
<strong>Catholic</strong>s believe this as well but realize<br />
that our faith then motivates us, urges us,<br />
as <strong>St</strong>. Paul says, to do good works. <strong>In</strong> other<br />
LET GO AND LET<br />
By Father Cletus M.S. Watson, TOR<br />
Photo by<br />
6 ST. AUGUSTINE CATHOLIC • FEBRUARY/MARCH 2001