Jesus’ teachings and Christian moral principles can look easy and even superficial when seen in the wrong light. No long prayers, no special diet, no special dress, so special place for prayer.
What makes discipleship hard—at times even heroically hard—is the way we are asked to treat one another.
To love our enemies, to do good to those who harm us.
One of the hardest parables of Jesus is the one about the unforgiving servant. The king forgives him an incredibly huge debt. But then the same servant treats a fellow servant who owes him a small sum very harshly. Hearing this, the king gets furious, has him arrested and thrown into prison.
As an inspiring Catholic wife and mother used to say about her sons who caused her much pain through alcoholism and irresponsible behaviour, “How can I complain about my children’s ingratitude when I have been so ungrateful to God for His great and never failing blessings?
In my latest book, It’s Him!, I have a chapter on forgiveness, called “The Hardest (and the Best) Part.” In it I give several true stories of heroic forgiveness.
Fr Joe Mannath SDB
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