April 16
Where there is hatred, let me bring love; where there is hurt, forgiveness. For in giving we receive, in forgiving we are forgiven.
Canticle of the Sun (freely rendered)
Listening mode
Where there is hatred, let me bring love; where there is hurt, forgiveness. For in giving we receive, in forgiving we are forgiven.
When someone forgives you for hurting them, it can be surprisingly uncomfortable. You had prepared what you would say, an explanation, perhaps an offer to make amends. Then the other person says "It's fine" and talks about something else.
You are relieved, but something is left over. As long as you could still apologise, the matter was in your hands. You could have paid off your debt bit by bit, and in the end the account would have been settled. Forgiveness makes that account unnecessary before you have paid it. It is a gift, and a gift cannot be paid back without damaging it.
That is why forgiving is sometimes easier than accepting forgiveness. The one who forgives keeps a certain stature. When you accept it, you have to accept that someone else decides the end of something you yourself caused. Afterwards you are left not free of debt but given a gift, and that binds you in a different way.
Perhaps days later you bring it up once more, and again they wave it away. This time you explain less.
