Reconciliation and Righteousness

The following is a reflection from Father Jacques Phillippe. He is a member of the Community of the Beatitudes and a renowned spiritual director. Check out his books here

 
There is a very deep connection, emphasized in Scripture, between one’s relationship with God and one’s relationship with others. Closing one’s heart to a brother means automatically closing one’s heart to God and his grace, while opening one’s heart to another is a sure way of opening one’s heart to God and his abundant blessings. The divine blessing will be measured out to me according to my attitude toward my neighbor. The good I do another will return to me as blessing; the bad—acted out, spoken, or even merely thought—will sooner or later come back to me. To curse someone is to curse one’s self. To detest or hate someone is to destroy one’s self. We shall always be the victims of the bad we do to others…. It resembles the law of gravity: if we respect it, we can put satellites in orbit, but if we don’t, we crash to the ground. I can testify that any time I’ve judged someone else, I’ve soon enough been repaid by some sorrowful experience of my own misery. This hasn’t entirely cured me, but I hope that will come….

 
Nothing draws God’s grace into our lives more than the humble, patient charity we practice toward others. Forgiveness is one of the highest forms of mercy and also one of the hardest. But it is worth the effort to extend it more widely. Forgiveness is difficult, sometimes heroic, but it is indispensable. Without forgiveness, evil multiplies ceaselessly. Only the courage to forgive puts an end to evil’s growth. Moreover, the pain someone else has caused me can only be completely cured by my forgiving that person.

 
We see victims all around us these days. And we work hard to understand them, embrace them, encourage them to express their suffering, their anger, and their sense of injustice; we strive to help them obtain recognition and recompense for the wrong they’ve suffered.

And all this is very good. But sometimes we overlook helping them to understand that, unless they forgive the people who have hurt them, they will never fully recover from the pain. God’s love is powerful enough to heal everything, but you must find the courage to decide to pass through the “narrow gate” of forgiveness. This choice is more demanding than the spontaneous reaction of resentment and accusation, but it is a decision in favor of true life.