Lenten Moments of Mercy: Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent   Today we reflect on the necessity of asking forgiveness.   Scripture “Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.’” Matthew 18:21–22     Reflection The Protestant evangelist Corrie ten Boom and her family were arrested in Holland during World War II for helping the Jews escape persecution. As she told it in her memoir, The Hiding Place, Corrie and her sister Betsie were imprisoned with a number of other women, subject to working as slaves and receiving beatings on a regular basis. Unexpectedly, Corrie was released from the prison due to what she later found out was a clerical error. The next week the rest of the women in the prison were killed. After the war Corrie began an evangelical life she describes in her book, Tramp for the Lord, preaching love, forgiveness, and mercy. In 1947, after giving a talk in Germany, she was approached by a man she recognized as one of the cruelest guards where she was imprisoned. He asked her for her forgiveness. Corrie struggled with the most difficult thing she was ever asked to do—her sister Betsie had died in that prison, and now she was asked to forgive a man who was partly responsible for her death. “Jesus, help me,” she prayed. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.” She grasped the former guard’s hands, and wept. She had never known God’s love more intensely than she did at that moment (Tramp for the Lord, 55–57). Meditating on the readings of this day, Pope Francis distinguishes between shallow apologies and true forgiveness. True forgiveness rests on being open to the grace of God. Unwillingness to forgive is like closing a door to God that we need to keep open. We can allow God’s forgiveness to enter our lives to the degree we are willing to forgive others with open hearts. Pope Francis “If I cannot forgive, I cannot ask forgiveness. Jesus teaches us to pray like this to the Father: ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.’” Morning Meditation, 10 March 2015   Lenten Action ► For more information on Corrie ten Boom see the Wikipedia entry on her life. ► Explore resources on mercy and forgiveness during this Year of Mercy.   Prayer Help us be mindful of your mercy, O Lord, and to keep an open door in our willingness to forgive and act towards others in mercy and love.

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