In the gospel reading for today we hear Our Lord teach the disciples how to pray, using the words of the Lord's prayer, or, otherwise known as the "Our Father."
The disciples see the close relationship Jesus has with his Father, and the peace that He has once He's finished praying to the Father. They want that peace which can only come through union with God the Father.
The beautiful words of the Our Father teach us how to live our lives in union with God and with one another. First, the prayer starts off by recognizing that God is Holy: "Father, hallowed be your name..." Luke 11:2 By saying this, we acknowledge that God is Holy. Then it goes on to pray about relationship with others: "...forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us..." Luke 11:4 This is the challenge that Our Lord is giving us: to not only love and serve God, but to be able to be forgiving to others as we expect God to be forgiving to us. This is really hard to follow and wrap our minds around.
We all have people in our lives that have hurt us. Whether it's a spouse, parents, brothers or sisters, co-workers, friends, we all have people that have hurt us. There are people that we are alienated from as a result of the hurt or wrong that they did to us. These are people that we find very difficult to forgive. But the Lord is expecting us to forgive them as we expect to be forgiven for the things we may have done.
On a practical level, though, I think that God realizes our human nature. He does expect us to forgive, but he also doesn't expect us to remain in relationships that will continually hurt us or ruin our peace of mind and tranquility. So it's okay to keep your distance from those that have hurt you in the past. But we have to let go of the hurt and forgive them and pray for them. It's okay to forgive and pray for those people that hurt you FROM A DISTANCE. To me, this is avoiding the "near occasion of sin." If being near someone that upsets me causes me to sin and to wish harm on them, it's best to keep your distance, and to pray for them and to forgive them for the hurt they have caused you.
Let us pray to God that we may have Him always at the center of all we do, and to be able to forgive others as He is forgiving to us.
Praise be Jesus Christ now and forever.
Yes, forgiveness does not necessarily result in restoration of a relationship. About 16 years ago two people who were & always will be dear to my heart chose each other & chose to walk away from me. They know that I love & forgive them, but although for a long time I prayed & hoped for a restored relationship with both of them, the distance is what is best for all of us so that we could pursue God's will for our respective lives separately. I recently discovered where they are online & I am glad to read they are doing well. I have chosen not to contact them because even though I love & forgive them I must exercise wisdom & respect their wishes.
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