Building peace requires forgiveness.

peace requires forgiveness

In New Zealand, we celebrate Social Justice Week from September 8 to 14. The focus for 2024 is 'Choose Forgiveness, Know Peace'. The key message is that building peace requires forgiveness.

Of all the things that Jesus asked of people, forgiveness must be one of the most difficult. When people have been deeply hurt by the thoughtless or callous words or actions of others, especially when these result in severe injury or loss of life, their first thought is often of revenge or payback. 

Asking people to forgive is difficult enough, but Jesus extended this to say we should pray for our enemies and do good to those who persecute us. He also spoke of turning the other cheek when we are struck, going the extra mile and giving our shirt to the one who steals our cloak. This is how he lived, and as he died, words of forgiveness were on his lips.

In his letter to the community at Corinth, which is the focus of the first reading at mass these days, Paul speaks about how the gospel appears foolish to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews. Paul says we preach Christ and him crucified, which makes no sense to many Jews and Greeks. I imagine that his capacity for forgiveness and his call for his followers to practice forgiveness were other things about him that puzzled them. 

Two things emerge for me here in terms of what Jesus clearly understood.

  1. That to forgive is to participate in the divine way of relating. It is summed up in the saying, "To err is human, to forgive is divine", attributed to Alexander Pope. Humans make mistakes and do the wrong things accidentally or deliberately. If our errors only evoke some form of retaliation, then a cycle of tit-for-tat actions can mean long-term suffering. We see many examples in our world of people, communities, and even nations who not only remember the hurts of the past, which is essential but continue to allow them to frame their actions and responses. 
  2. The only effective way to break the cycle of violence is through forgiveness.This is the idea behind the Choose Forgiveness/Know Peace focus.

We pray that we find the grace to forgive so that we might bring peace to our hearts, communities, and world.

Fr Patrick O'Shea lives and works in Aotearoa/New Zealand

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