O loving Father, today we pray for those who have hurt us, for those who have wounded us so deeply, those we have loved but turned against us. Most especially, we pray for those who have hurt us who are now asking our forgiveness. It is very difficult Lord but it can be done in your Son.
“Knowledge inflates with pride, but love builds up. If anyone supposes he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.” (1Cor.8:1)
When we use more of our minds, loving especially those who have hurt us becomes difficult, even impossible. We could not get over the pain and the hurts that are so bad enough, worsened by the accompanying shame and embarrassment brought on us when we were disregarded as persons that in turn lead us to think of revenge, of getting even, of demanding “an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.”
Thank for the grace, O God, of enabling us to enter into the very heart of Jesus Christ’s teaching which is to love like Him, to love radically that means “loving our enemies, doing good for them, lending without expecting returns and being merciful like you our Father.” (Lk.6: 35, 36) Thank you for the grace, O God, of enabling us to get into the very person of your Son Jesus Christ who is so poor, so empty of Himself with enough space to host everyone inside His heart with nothing to keep except with everything to give within. Amen. St. John Chrysostom, pray for us! Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, Parokya ng San Juan Apostol at Ebanghelista, Gov. F. Halili Ave., Bagbaguin, Sta. Maria, Bulacan 3022.
Photo by the author, St. Paul-Mt. Pico Retreat House, Baguio City, 17 July 2017.
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