Welcome to the third week of our message series we are calling “Baggage.” Now we aren't talking about physical baggage, those items that clutter our cars, purses, homes and desks. This series is about the emotional baggage that we hold onto year after year, the grudges, resentments and regrets that can take away our emotional, mental and spiritual energy; keeping us from becoming the person that God wants us to become this year. What we are talking about is forgiveness. In the first week we said there were three stages of forgiveness. First there is denial. While this can take several different forms, the two most common forms are:
Making excuses for the other person, convincing yourself that they really do not owe you anything. You can only make excuses for so long before it begins to affect you emotionally.
Refusing to forgive - where we hold onto the hurt or anger. But this leads to bitterness which does not stay focused on just one person and we end up carrying this bitterness into other relationships as well.
The second stage of forgiveness is when we recognize that forgiveness would be helpful, but we have not done it yet, or we do not know how to forgive the debt.
The third stage is to actually go ahead and do it; you forgive someone and release the debt. Once you have cancelled the debt it is no longer in your head and on your heart. And when you do it often enough you can become quite good at it. It can become a habit, a heart healthy habit.
Last week we began to talk about “Receiving Forgiveness.” Through Christ’s suffering and death he paid the debt of humanity caused by the sin of our first parents - Adam and Eve. When Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, it signaled that the debt of Original Sin had been forgiven and we could once again share in the Divine life God intended for us from the beginning. If we want to lose our “baggage” so that we can have the emotional, spiritual and mental health and energy to accomplish the goals we want to accomplish in the coming year, we first have to recognize this “original baggage” of Original Sin, and appreciate the forgiveness that we have received. We cannot forgive others if we do not first accept the forgiveness that God offers us...which brings us to this week.
In today’s Gospel John proclaimed that Jesus was the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” Jesus takes away our sins each time we confess our failings and shortcomings in confession. Now, many think of confession as where we go to ask God for another chance. Telling God “I’ll do better, just give me another chance.” But Fr. Mike Schmitz of Dynamic Catholic described confession in just the opposite terms. He said confession was where God says to us, there’s things you have done to take your heart away from my heart, that have hurt other people. Give me another chance to love you. Give me another chance to release you from your debt.
In the book “Forgiveness Makes You Free: A Dramatic Story of Healing and Reconciliation From the Heart of Rwanda”, Fr. Ubald Ruirangoga recalls the experience of his father, mother, and most of his siblings, being slaughtered in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. The civil war lasted 100 days in which time 800,000 members of the Tutsi tribe were slaughtered by Hutu tribe members. Fr. Ubald lost 80 members of his own family. He escaped to the Congo, and stayed in Belgium for three months, during which time he had to deal with his anger at God for what occurred. After returning to his homeland he forgave the man who had killed his mother, and saw to the education of the man’s children after his imprisonment. Fr. Ubald explains, “To forgive, then, is to put those who have harmed us into the hands of God, who alone can see and judge both human deeds and human hearts. This is true justice. It is also a reason that we must be quick to seek forgiveness from those we have harmed in any way, and to do everything possible to reconcile with one another and with the Church."
Regardless of where you have been or what you have done, be at peace. The same God who forgave Moses the murderer, Rahab the prostitute, David the adulterer, and Peter the denier will forgive you. All you have to do is seek that forgiveness with a contrite heart.
This week take some time to reflect on the “Baggage” that is holding you back. Ask God to help you call to mind a time you experienced His forgiveness in your life. What was the sin that burdened you? What was it like to carry that burden? Did you resist asking Christ for forgiveness, if so, why? How did you feel when you finally confessed your sin and received God's forgiveness?
Remember my brothers and sisters, The only sin God won’t forgive is the one you will not ask forgiveness for.