The greek for "forgive" is "sygchoro". It comes from the words "syn" (plus, together, more) and "choros" (space). It actually means "together in a place". Or "to fit together in a place". Or "to give space to someone or something". Space where? In my heart. I make room in my heart so that my brother can fit there too. To broaden my heart so that there is always room for other people there.
To accept that they are people like me. And people make mistakes, just like I do. Nobody is perfect. Only God is.
When we are strict judges of our brothers, then God allows us to walk the same path that our brothers had gone through. And then we see how it really feels like. And we see how we ourselves behave. And we wouldn't want others to be strict judges of us, would we? That's how we become more merciful.
Psychologists say that love and forgiveness are medicine for our soul. They say that love and forgiveness drive away all the negative emotions (anger, bitterness, hate, etc) that destroy the heart and mental health of people. This is true. When we follow God's commandments, to love and forgive, the main effect is on ourselves. We are the ones who are healed, not the others.
(Moreover, we come to church to heal ourselves, not our brothers. The latter is God's job, not ours.)
And let's think. Shouldn't we first forgive ourselves? When we make a mistake, it's not the end of the world. We are not perfect, we make mistakes. Many people suffer because they cannot forgive themselves. This is called pride. And it is due to a lack of awareness of our true nature. We are human. We have our limits. And day after day we find our limits in front of us. In the workplace with our colleagues, at home with our families, with our friends, with our brothers. Let's not condemn ourselves, but let's give ourselves opportunities to change. We will never be perfect, but we can produce more and more fruit in our lives. And so the grace of God will be upon us.
The greek for "forgive" is "sygchoro". It comes from the words "syn" (plus, together, more) and "choros" (space). It actually means "together in a place". Or "to fit together in a place". Or "to give space to someone or something". Space where? In my heart. I make room in my heart so that my brother can fit there too. To broaden my heart so that there is always room for other people there.
To accept that they are people like me. And people make mistakes, just like I do. Nobody is perfect. Only God is.
When we are strict judges of our brothers, then God allows us to walk the same path that our brothers had gone through. And then we see how it really feels like. And we see how we ourselves behave. And we wouldn't want others to be strict judges of us, would we? That's how we become more merciful.
Psychologists say that love and forgiveness are medicine for our soul. They say that love and forgiveness drive away all the negative emotions (anger, bitterness, hate, etc) that destroy the heart and mental health of people. This is true. When we follow God's commandments, to love and forgive, the main effect is on ourselves. We are the ones who are healed, not the others.
(Moreover, we come to church to heal ourselves, not our brothers. The latter is God's job, not ours.)
And let's think. Shouldn't we first forgive ourselves? When we make a mistake, it's not the end of the world. We are not perfect, we make mistakes. Many people suffer because they cannot forgive themselves. This is called pride. And it is due to a lack of awareness of our true nature. We are human. We have our limits. And day after day we find our limits in front of us. In the workplace with our colleagues, at home with our families, with our friends, with our brothers. Let's not condemn ourselves, but let's give ourselves opportunities to change. We will never be perfect, but we can produce more and more fruit in our lives. And so the grace of God will be upon us.
... see pt 2
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