Matthew 5:44 (What Does It Mean to Forgive?)
Matthew 5:44
What can we learn from Matthew 5:44 about how to forgive others that will keep our dignity intact while still following God’s will?
What Does it Mean to Forgive?
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:44
When someone hurts us, we can react in a couple of different ways. Our response can be a knee-jerk reaction from our hurt feelings. Or we might suffer quietly and try to ignore the situation. Yet, there is a way to forgive others that keeps our dignity intact and follows God’s will.
We can do that by imitating Jesus’ example. When He was being mocked and tortured at Calvary, He was quiet. He wasn’t defeated. He was busy praying for them… and for all of us across time.
Although they treated Him without respect, He acted with integrity. Even though they treated Him with contempt, He remained loving. And when they spat at Him and used hurtful words, He forgave them. He did not react to the situation but acted with love. Jesus is our example and model of holiness. From Him, we can learn what it means to forgive and ask for grace to help us do the same. (September 25, 2022)
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CREDITS
The LOGO image of Our Lady of Grace is original artwork by Martin Lariviere in 2009. We have the artist’s permission (my son). It is our exclusive trademark logo image.
Raphael painted The Sistine Madonna circa (1513-1514). We made circular cut-outs from the original image.
Bible verses are from the Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition.
Photos
A beautifully photographed sky by Donald Tong inspired the website’s colour scheme. Cropped portions of it are the background for the footer Bible verse. He shared it as a free download on pexels.com.
James Chan from Pixabay photographed the Crown of Thorns on a Bible with a heart-shaped shadow.
For those interested in using the Bible image, we are sharing it as a free, public-domain image. To download the full size, we linked it here: Cathopic is an online source for free Catholic images. Once you create an account with them, you can use their photos (no credit needed) as part of a free trial. There are only a few restrictions, outlined in their Terms of Use.
Credits for linked images are on their respective pages.
IN REVIEW
Forgiving others like Jesus at Calvary did doesn’t mean being silent and defeated. It means quietly praying for those who hurt us. Although they treated Him without respect, He acted with integrity. Even though they treated Him with contempt, He remained loving. And when they spat at Him and used hurtful words He forgave them. He didn’t react to the situation but acted with love.