Wednesday of the Fourth Week.
Lenten Reflections: How Many Times Am Forgiven? How Many Times Do I forgive?
In life’s journey, we inevitably encounter pain, hurt, and betrayal moments. These wounds can leave lasting scars on our hearts, burdening us with emotional baggage that weighs us down. How many times are we suppose to forgive those who have wronged us?
In Chapter 17 St. Luke has the answer: "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.”
The Catholic Church (CCC 976) teaches about forgiveness. In Day 134 of CIY podcast, Father Mike Schmitz expands on it
Servite Father Lawrence Martin Jenco (1934-1996) was kidnapped in Beirut on Jan. 8, 1985, where he had been acting as Director of Catholic Relief Services. For 564 days he endured harsh treatment as he was held captive by members of the Islamic Jihad.
St. Luke Chapter 11:1
In a compelling interview at the Catholic Center of the University of Southern California where he served as director in the years before his death, Father Lawrence Jenco recounted his experiences in his book Bound to Forgive. As a chronicle of events, this book offers a riveting account of Father Martin Jenco's kidnapping and resultant 19 months as a hostage of Shiite Muslims. With pathos and humor, he unflinchingly journeys back through the time, events, circumstances, and people of his incarceration.
Father Jenco had served refugees in Thailand and Yemen before he traveled to Lebanon in late 1984 to direct Catholic Relief Services in Beirut. As he headed for his Beirut office on a January morning in 1985, he was abducted by gunmen. One of them shouted in English, his voice shaking with hatred, "You're a dead man." He was blindfolded, bound with tape, and tossed into the space for spare tires beneath the bed of a truck. As the vehicle careened down the road, the bound and gagged priest realized his nose was bleeding. He feared he was in a hearse and was to be buried alive. Silently, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me."
Father Jenco's first two months of captivity were spent in a clothes closet, a plastic bag over his head, then spent seven months blindfolded, and eight months chained to a radiator. He counted each radiator link as a rosary, and silently celebrated mass every day.
"Whenever I thought that the next minute surely would be death, I didn't think about my sins, but of God's goodness. When you're tethered, refused the use of a toilet, and forced to eat off the floor, you experience the sensation of being an animal," says Father Jenco.
About 13 months into his captivity, a young guard named Sayeed asked Father Jenco for forgiveness. Father leaned against the wall and said, "Oh Sayeed, there were times I hated you. I was filled with anger and revenge for what you did to me and my brothers But Jesus said on a mountaintop that I was not to hate you. I was to love you. Sayeed, I need to ask God's forgiveness and yours "
Happy Camper's in a review of Father Jenco's book characterizes it as life-chsnging: "I decided to read this story aloud to my husband who has glaucoma, and we could hardly put the book down! The story of cruelty and humiliation builds up until one concludes that the whole experience can only be classified as totally unforgivable. Father Jenco's journey to forgiveness puts you to shame when you remember how hard it was for you to forgive a much less onerous offense. Truly inspiring and life-changing!"
The Catholic Church (CCC 976) teaches
that "The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was when he gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"
In Day 134 of CIY podcast, Father Mike Schmitz explains: "Because it was when Jesus gave the Holy Spiri to the apostles that Jesus gave them his own power, divine power to forgive sins. If you remember back in John's Gospel, chapter 20, Jesus breathed and they received the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. So he gives to the apostles his own divine power ability to forgive sins. That's how the forgiveness of Jesus Christ comes to us. That's how what he merited by his life, death and resurrection on the cross in the death and resurrection and giving us the Holy Spirit. That's how it comes to us. It comes to us. That forgiveness, that mercy, that redemption, it comes to us through the ministry of the church. that forgiveness, that mercy, that redemption, it comes to us through the ministry of the church. This is incredible. Now, first it comes to us, it says in paragraph 977, through baptism, through faith and baptism.
In life’s journey, we inevitably encounter pain, hurt, and betrayal moments. These wounds can leave lasting scars on our hearts, burdening us with emotional baggage that weighs us down. How many times are we suppose to forgive those who have wronged us?
In Chapter 17 St. Luke has the answer: "Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’ you should forgive him.”
The Catholic Church (CCC 976) teaches about forgiveness. In Day 134 of CIY podcast, Father Mike Schmitz expands on it
Servite Father Lawrence Martin Jenco (1934-1996) was kidnapped in Beirut on Jan. 8, 1985, where he had been acting as Director of Catholic Relief Services. For 564 days he endured harsh treatment as he was held captive by members of the Islamic Jihad.
St. Luke Chapter 11:1
In a compelling interview at the Catholic Center of the University of Southern California where he served as director in the years before his death, Father Lawrence Jenco recounted his experiences in his book Bound to Forgive. As a chronicle of events, this book offers a riveting account of Father Martin Jenco's kidnapping and resultant 19 months as a hostage of Shiite Muslims. With pathos and humor, he unflinchingly journeys back through the time, events, circumstances, and people of his incarceration.
Father Jenco had served refugees in Thailand and Yemen before he traveled to Lebanon in late 1984 to direct Catholic Relief Services in Beirut. As he headed for his Beirut office on a January morning in 1985, he was abducted by gunmen. One of them shouted in English, his voice shaking with hatred, "You're a dead man." He was blindfolded, bound with tape, and tossed into the space for spare tires beneath the bed of a truck. As the vehicle careened down the road, the bound and gagged priest realized his nose was bleeding. He feared he was in a hearse and was to be buried alive. Silently, he prayed, "Lord Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me."
Father Jenco's first two months of captivity were spent in a clothes closet, a plastic bag over his head, then spent seven months blindfolded, and eight months chained to a radiator. He counted each radiator link as a rosary, and silently celebrated mass every day.
"Whenever I thought that the next minute surely would be death, I didn't think about my sins, but of God's goodness. When you're tethered, refused the use of a toilet, and forced to eat off the floor, you experience the sensation of being an animal," says Father Jenco.
About 13 months into his captivity, a young guard named Sayeed asked Father Jenco for forgiveness. Father leaned against the wall and said, "Oh Sayeed, there were times I hated you. I was filled with anger and revenge for what you did to me and my brothers But Jesus said on a mountaintop that I was not to hate you. I was to love you. Sayeed, I need to ask God's forgiveness and yours "
Happy Camper's in a review of Father Jenco's book characterizes it as life-chsnging: "I decided to read this story aloud to my husband who has glaucoma, and we could hardly put the book down! The story of cruelty and humiliation builds up until one concludes that the whole experience can only be classified as totally unforgivable. Father Jenco's journey to forgiveness puts you to shame when you remember how hard it was for you to forgive a much less onerous offense. Truly inspiring and life-changing!"
The Catholic Church (CCC 976) teaches
that "The Apostle's Creed associates faith in the forgiveness of sins not only with faith in the Holy Spirit, but also with faith in the Church and in the communion of saints. It was when he gave the Holy Spirit to his apostles that the risen Christ conferred on them his own divine power to forgive sins: "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained"
In Day 134 of CIY podcast, Father Mike Schmitz explains: "Because it was when Jesus gave the Holy Spiri to the apostles that Jesus gave them his own power, divine power to forgive sins. If you remember back in John's Gospel, chapter 20, Jesus breathed and they received the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. So he gives to the apostles his own divine power ability to forgive sins. That's how the forgiveness of Jesus Christ comes to us. That's how what he merited by his life, death and resurrection on the cross in the death and resurrection and giving us the Holy Spirit. That's how it comes to us. It comes to us. That forgiveness, that mercy, that redemption, it comes to us through the ministry of the church. that forgiveness, that mercy, that redemption, it comes to us through the ministry of the church. This is incredible. Now, first it comes to us, it says in paragraph 977, through baptism, through faith and baptism.
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