Angelus News | April 21, 2023 | Vol. 8 No

know the precise moment when he
could be excused from the effort,
because he knew that forgiveness was
beyond what he could do.
Yet Jesus insisted on the necessity
of forgiveness. He said, “Take heed
to yourselves; if your brother sins,
rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive
him; and if he sins against you seven
times in the day, and turns to you
seven times, and says, ‘I repent,’ you
must forgive him” (Luke 17:3–4).
He even made our willingness to
forgive others a precondition of any
forgiveness we receive from God:
“forgive, and you will be forgiven”
(Luke 6:37).
In case anyone missed the connection,
Jesus said it again: “And
whenever you stand praying, forgive,
if you have anything against any one;
so that your Father also who is in
heaven may forgive you your trespasses”
(Mark 11:25).
He even made sure we clicked the
box and accepted the terms whenever
we prayed the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive
us our trespasses as we forgive those
who trespass against us.” If we won’t
forgive, we cannot be forgiven. It’s as
simple as that.
Nor is there an escape clause for
offenses of greater gravity. Jesus himself,
from the cross on which he died,
pleaded God’s forgiveness upon his
murderers. Among his last words are,
“Father, forgive them; for they know
not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
We must, he said, forgive from the
heart (see Matthew 18:35).
Was he asking the impossible?
No, not since “forgiveness has risen
from the grave.” Jesus’ earliest disciples
knew that forgiveness was fundamental
to Christian life. St. Paul said
in his Letter to the Colossians, “as
the Lord has forgiven you, so you also
must forgive” (3:13).
St. John Chrysostom, in yet another
homily, insisted upon the necessity of
this heroic degree of forgiveness. Following
Jesus’ words, he said, “we are
to forgive not merely with the lips,
but from the heart.” If we refuse to
forgive, he went on, we are harming
not those who have sinned against us,
but rather ourselves. We are cutting
ourselves off from God’s love. He
continued: “Let us not then thrust
“Golgotha” or “Christ on the cross,” 1884, by Mihály Munkácsy. | WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
St. John Chrysostom’s benefits of forgiveness
The following is excerpted from a homily on the Gospel of Matthew by St. John Chrysostom (c. 347-407).
God requires two things of us here: to condemn ourselves
for our sins, and to forgive others. We are to
forgive not merely with the lips, but from the heart.
Let us not then thrust the sword into ourselves by being
revengeful.
Say not then that he insulted you, and slandered you, and
did unto you ills beyond number; for the more you say, so
much the more do you declare him a benefactor.
For he has given you an opportunity to wash away your sins
— so that the greater the injuries he has done you, so much
more has he become for you a cause of a greater remission
of sins.
For if we be willing, no one shall be able to injure us, but
even our enemies shall benefit us in the greatest degree.
See then how much you gain, bearing meekly the spiteful
acts of your enemies.
First and greatest, you obtain deliverance from sins; secondly,
fortitude and patience; thirdly, mildness and benevolence;
fourthly, to be free from anger continually, to which
nothing can be equal.
For of him that is free from anger, it is quite clear that he is
delivered also from the despondency arising from anger, and
will not spend his life on vain labours and sorrows.
For he that does not know how to hate, likewise does not
know how to grieve, but will enjoy pleasure, and ten thousand
blessings.
Accordingly, we punish ourselves by hating others, even as
on the other hand we benefit ourselves by loving them.
April 21, 2023 • ANGELUS • 11