Lent - Day Twenty Six - A Deadly Cure

Gospel	John 5:1-3,5-16 ©

The healing at the pool of Bethesda

There was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem, there is a building, called Bethzatha in Hebrew, consisting of five porticos; and under these were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, paralyzed – waiting for the water to move. One man there had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’ replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’ Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.

  Now that day happened to be the Sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the Sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man had no idea who it was since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. After a while, Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’ The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus.

We have spent Sunday and Monday at this oasis and the Master does not seem to want to leave today either.  I for one am glad we are getting a few days of rest. Jerusalem grows ever closer and the Master's feet seem to be dragging. 

 I have spent a lot of time in the pool of water here in the oasis where the chill of the spring seems to be taking the pains of my aging body away.  Of course, the effect is temporary. But even temporary relief is good.  I remember in my youth, it seems so long ago now, then I would go into the drugstore and coming out with a shopping bag that contained a large bottle of Bacardi light rum, some Okeydoke popcorn and some Coca Cola.   My buddy and I would order pizza and do what we could do to empty the bottle of rum!  By contrast, today, I go into the drugstore and come out with, capsules, nostrums, and remedies designed to keep this ancient body moving.  So, I could sympathize with the poor guy at the pool of Bethesda. He was there but had no one to shove him into the water once it was disturbed and ready to dispense its healing powers. So, he would always be the bridesmaid and never be the bride as he saw one of his fellow patients collect the cure from the pool.  I felt sorry for the man.  

The Master filled us in on the background of the story.  It seems that when Jesus entered the enclosure where the pool was that He had left the Jewish world and entered the world of the Greeks.  All over the Greek world were pools that were said to have curative properties.  The Greeks believed that the pools were inhabited by spirits that once in a while, when the mood struck them, that they would churn the water up and the first person into the pool would be cured of whatever ailed them.  So, when Jesus entered the area of the pool he was leaving Jewish thought behind and entering the world of Greek superstition.  In doing so and by affecting the cure Jesus was showing that He was the living water and not some spirit that lived in a pool.  It was a challenge to the Greeks and then to top it all off he told the patient to pick up his mat and go home.  When the man did so, the Pharisees caught sight of this man "doing work" on the Sabbath by carrying his mat and they confronted him.  He told them that the person who had healed him had told him to pick up the mat and go home.  They asked him who was the one that cured on the Sabbath?  The former patient did not know because Jesus had slipped away before the man could thank him.  As he was walking, I guess still carrying his mat, he happened upon Jesus and he took a moment to thank Him and asked Him His name.  He then returned to the Pharisees and told them that a man named Jesus of Nazareth had cured them and they began to take notice of this Jesus and the stirrings of a plot against Him began.   

The Master said that when you challenge the culture you are living in just as Jesus challenged the Greek traditions of spirits in the pools you are bound to make enemies.  He pointed out how the  Pro-Life people who prefer life over death and protest the murder of innocent children in the womb are held in special contempt by the people who fight to make it law that the blood of babies can be shed with impunity. These people with the blood of the innocent on their hands are sponsored by the devil who is the author of death and lies.  

Master pointed out that the guilt of the Pro Murder people in the state of New York was greater because of the law that was recently passed that now allows innocent blood to be spilled up until the very moment of birth. Even Hitler and his cronies would not do this. He mentioned how the Catholic governor of the state who was giddy with joy as he signed this bill into law.  

The Master said that He would imagine that the patience of the Father was growing thinner by the day. He said that America was once the crucible of what was good and proper and good has fallen on hard times where the love of truth has been exchanged for New Age practices and thought is good only because that tickles the ears of the people. Justice was becoming something for the rich and the powerful who have lost sight of just who they are and have begun assuming the power of God, taking control of life and death into their hands even though they cannot restore life nor do they understand death and what the shedding of innocent blood is doing to their souls. The fate of these people, unless they repent, will be horrible on the last day.  

He told us no matter what, always side with the right even though it appears that evil has the might. The right will eventually win out over evil because God is righteous and His victory is assured.  Besides, it only took one man, who was sent and empowered by God to Ninevah and by the call of Jonah the great city put on sackcloth and drenched itself in ashes and withered themselves with fasting so that the hand of God would be stayed and the righteous punishment so richly deserved would not come crashing down upon them.   

One voice joined to another and another will eventually be heard. Link hands and form a living bridge against the raging waters of the advocates of death and destruction.  Raise your voice against their plans and  Be not afraid of what you are to say, because what He did for the Prophet Jonah the Spirit will do for you.  You will be given what to say and so the Holy Spirit will speak for you and your voice will be heard. 

Nineveh Chamber of Commerce Welcomes You

Jonah began his journey through the city and had gone but a single day's walk announcing, "Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed," when the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth. When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;  he did not carry it out.

Nineveh was a strong country with a strong king and army.  They flourished and unfortunately for them, they forgot the ways of God and trampled on His Law every chance the got.  God decided that He had enough of the people of Nineveh and He slated them for destruction.  He wanted to give them a chance so He sent Jonah, you know the fellah that spent three days in the belly of a whale.  The city was huge and it was a three-day walk to get through it.  Jonah, who was not happy that Nineveh was getting a chance to repent nevertheless did as God commanded him and proclaimed that in forty days Nineveh would be destroyed.  He had gotten only part way through the city when his words sunk into the souls of the citizens.  The king even heard of the impending disaster and he took it so seriously that he proclaimed a fast and people were to wear sackcloth and ashes and to repent of their evil ways.  God saw that the people of Nineveh were repenting and God decided that the destruction he had planned would not be carried out. 

We can draw parallels between Ninevah and our country,  We have a strong and very rich country that values freedom above all. But our successes and our riches have turned us away from the One who made all of these things possible, God.  Prayer is not allowed in our schools, basic expressions of belief are forbidden on public property and the pagans and atheists seem to gain more power to push their sinful agenda.  We call the murder of a child in the womb "women's health" while in most cases the only thing that is in jeopardy is the woman's convenience as she does not want to have a baby at this time.  We have turned our back on God and yet we still sing "God Bless America."  Why should He continue to bless us when we through the actions of the pagans and atheists or the silent acceptance of the believer have chosen to leave His protection. 

America is a very strong country, that is true.  But the strength of a building does not begin with the upper floors but with the foundation,  Our foundation, the one built with skill and daring by our forefathers is being allowed to rot and crumble into dust.  For our forefathers the motto, "In God We Trust" would have meant something to them. Does it mean anything to us? The founding fathers saw the hand of God being moved as this nation was created.  Today, no one is brave enough to say that they are on God's side but everyone says that God is on theirs.  Really? How do you know?  

To each of us, I pose this challenge.  Today think of yourself as a citizen of Nineveh.  What would you have done if you heard the voice of Johah?  The signs of impending tragedy are there for all to see.  America the Beautiful, land of the free and home of the brave, is being called back into union with God and the time is now, not a year from now or even a minute from now.  What God has given us He can take away.  

Our brothers and sisters in Purgatory would appreciate a shout out to God on their behalf.  An Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be said for their intention would be most helpful to them.    

HATE

Finally, my research has revealed something that the world has in such abundance that every man, woman, and child can have and share as much as he or she wants without any fear of running out of it.  That commodity is hate. 

From Barcelona to the United States there are examples of the various flavors that are available to us.  Muslims and Christians can indulge in mutual hate of one another. Here in America whites can hate blacks and blacks can hate whites. And our president can't come out and say that hating a person because of their color is wrong. 

My blog today is short.  Please, pray for one another, pray that this world becomes more tolerant and loving to one another. Life is too short to allow hate to rule us. 

Holding A Grudge for Dummies

As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he put our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children,

so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him

The story began on April 22, 1990.  My mother was in the hospital and underwent surgery for lung cancer.  She came through the surgery as well as could be expected.  Going into the game we knew what the ultimate outcome would be, there was no hope, she had terminal cancer and the surgery was done to buy her some more time.  My two sisters and my brother arrived at the hospital at 9:00 AM to be with Mom until the surgery was scheduled at 11:00 AM.  We arrived on her floor and were amazed to see her on a gurney in the corridor, the surgery had been moved up.  We got there just in the nick of time to give her our love and to let her know that we were pulling for her.  Then began the waiting, one hour, two hours, the time dragged on. Finally, the surgeon came and told us that she had come through the surgery fine and he had done what he could to extend her time on earth. We thanked the doctor and were taken to intensive care where my mother was on a ventilator but awake and alert. She smiled as her children gathered around her and she happily responded to questions using a dry erase board that they had given her.   We were all relieved and assumed that we would have Mom with us for the year that the surgeon promised.  We all visited her the next day and she was a little less okay, more distant.  I could not visit on April 24th and on the 25th Mom's eyes were open, but she no longer wrote on the dry erase board.  After some time, she closed her eyes and stopped responding to us and at 7:11 PM my mother went home to the Lord. We celebrated her life at a Mass that following Saturday and she was sent to be cremated as was her wish. 

I was walking around in a daze.  this was not supposed to happen, we had been given a year.  The very fact that Mom was dead was a great wrong, she was only sixty-four when she died.  She died because of bad doctoring, and I do not mean the surgeon.  Mom worked for a doctor and part of her compensation was free medical care.  The doctor she worked for provided the absolute minimum in care and in doing so misdiagnosed the cancer that eventually killed Mom.  She provided her with a salve to put on a growth on my mother's shoulder.  It got no better and after six months Mom went to another doctor friend who immediately diagnosed cancer and had the growth removed but it was too late.  The disease had spread to her lungs during the six months on non-caring care that she had received.  

The funeral was a typical Catholic funeral. The Church did her job and offered prayers for my mother's soul.  For the next six months, I was in the grip of a great depression.  I held in my heart a great and bitter hatred for the doctor that cared so little that she did so little and in effect murdered my mother almost as if she took a gun and shot her. My life was in disarray.  I could not concentrate and went through the motions of life.  Then one day I came to the realization that while I was morose and in pain, the doctor that caused it was fat and happy and practicing her trade not bothering to think of what she had done.  Then it happened.  I passed a Catholic Church and the God of the Universe inside the tabernacle reached out to me and I forgave the doctor who caused my mother and me so much pain.  At that moment, through the grace of God, I came back to life.  

Since that time I cannot hold a grudge.  I forgave the person that murdered my mother, what else could someone do that would allow me to keep them in bondage? 

Every so often I trot this story out because I think it is important to remember that we have been forgiven much by God and we are called to forgive as well.  I write this as a reminder to myself. 

Tears Are Flowing Like A River

http://www.poetrybyloree.com/393.html

I am not a bad writer.  True I am no Hemingway or even Poe and right now I am doing the kind of writing that I do not do very well.  Yesterday, at a concert in Manchester England an angry lone terrorist took it upon himself to end the lives of at least twenty-two people. We will probably find out that this murder was done in the name of God. I  cannot fathom why people find it necessary to kill in the name of God.  Is God so weak that He cannot fight for Himself?  I know my Church teaches that the Muslim worships the same God as I do, the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob. I do not believe that these terrorists that find fulfillment in cutting off the lives of innocent men, women, and especially children know a thing about God. A person that professes to love God cannot be a lover of violence. So, I do not know who the radical Islamic terrorists pray to, I know it is not the God who went to the Cross for us. I know it is not the God who loves us with an unspeakable love that will draw us to Him in eternity if we want it and show that we want it by being faithful to the commands of His Son.  To hate is to defy God for God is love and hate is abhorrent to Him.   God does not even hate those that hate Him. He waits, He watches, He whispers, hoping that the example of Love that was shown to all by His Son will break through the cobwebs of hate that block salvation to those who insist on having their own way. If God could cry, his tears would flow like a river for He sees what we do to each other in His name and he realizes that we do not have the slightest idea of how much He loves and wants to draw us to Him.  Today we mourn for the twenty-plus people whose lives were ended and for those who were injured whose lives will never be the sam again. The grayness of cloudy morning where I am sitting writing this seems apt and proper.  Let us pray.

My God and Father, once again Cain has raised his hand against Able and the soil of your garden accepts the blood of your children. My Father, for those who have died in this latest atrocity, please be merciful in your judgment. To those who were injured in body, Lord, speed their healing and restore to them robust good health. And for those whose spirits have been injured, quash the thirst for revenge in their hearts, dear Lord, for the sword raised in anger will remain until it finds another sword with which to clash.   I pray that you move your hand and help end the violence. Let us regain the knowledge our ancestors had about how sacred life is. Let this rampage of the evil one end and rescue your children Lord for we know not what we do.   Amen.  

The Church vs The World and how it affects you.

If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own;

but because you do not belong to the world,

and I have chosen you out of the world,

the world hates you."

When Jesus spoke these words, he could have been speaking about the world we live in today. We know, some of us from experience, that it is not easy to be a Christian in the second millennium, but then, it wasn't easy in the first or even during the time of the Apostles.  

What makes us different than the animals is that we have a soul that is immortal and we have a mind that knows this and is self-aware of its existence. Our mind cannot fathom a world that does not include it.  I've said before that my one problem with dying is the knowledge that while I am busy shutting down, my former neighbor will be getting ready to go to EPCOT center. My friends and family will probably after they hear of my death, wonder what the church will feed them after the funeral service. In Washington D.C. our legislators will spend more time doing nothing useful.  In other words, life on this planet will continue and more than likely, thrive without the presence of Michael The Lesser on it, whose main contribution is filling up an internet blog with prattle! 

If we all realize that our fate is a common one, no matter if there is a God or not, why don't we play nice with each other?  A Christian person should be leading the way by giving a good example, by being kind, and being forgiving to others.  

Look at the benefits of being a Christian.  First, living a Christian life will make the time on earth that we have much more pleasant.  Next and the most important thing is we receive eternal life at the end of our time on this little blue marble that floats in the Orion arm of the Milky Way Galaxy.  When you join, let's say an auto club, you usually get some sort of premium, a map case, a dog whistle, a brillo pad, it doesn't matter, it is a free premium because you are paying to become a member.  A Christian gets what a Christian gets absolutely free because we cannot buy our way into heaven. The news, nay, nay I say, The good news is that heaven and eternal life with God is a free gift given to us by the Father because He loves us so very much.  Okay, the last sentence was over the top, but still it was true! 

It is kind of ironic that as the indication that the Church is doing a good job is that the world hates it more and more. So, where does this leave us on May 20, 2017?  We need to step up our game. We need to be more Christ-like in our lives.  We must be willing to accept the retribution, without anger, actually with joy,  and we must continue to try to live out the Word as best as we can.  We must love more, help more, work more, and especially pray more.  WE must always remember the command of Jesus to love one another as He loved us.   The hatred of the world can be overcome if we put our hearts and souls into the effort. 

God bless you today, please, take a moment right now, and pray for someone that you know that needs it.  Pray and thank God that you are on of his adopted children.  Do it now.  Schedule a five-minute prayer break for yourself every day, put it in your phone's calendar like you put the  other ordinary  things that you just have to do. Make prayer a required time in your day.  Saint Francis, who worked his whole life trying to imitate Jesus said at the end of his life,  "Let us begin today brothers, for until now we have done nothing."   Let us begin, the time is right and the time is NOW!

Lent - The Big Bang Theory

"If God were your Father, you would love me,

for I came from God and am here;

I did not come on my own, but he sent me."

I have to tell you that I am very concerned about the situation we find the world in on this nasty, cold, rainy, windy day.   It is not the lack of bright sunshine that bothers me because I know that above the clouds the sun is shining brightly.  I am concerned because of a little rotund man in North Korea, who is going through life with only seven of his eight cylinders firing in his brain box.  I am also concerned of a despot in Syria who has decided the time to come to murder his people with sarin gas.  I am concerned because of a godless ex-KGB man who sits in Moscow pulling strings here and there simply to increase world tension.  I am concerned because I have a singular lack of trust in our president and his government. It is a scary time.  Events could even as I am writing this, could come to a head and missiles capped with nuclear warheads could start something that no man could stop.   It would be the Big Bang all over again except with us in the middle. 

If it were not for my faith in God I think I would be in a state of depression right now because I know how inhumane man can be to other humans.  But I know that above these dark and scary clouds we have a God that loves us.  We have a home where we will be happy forever.  No matter what, we will live in the bright sunlight.  Praise you, Jesus.  Your Sacred Heart beats a song of love for us.  With you, at our side, we will stand firm.  With you, we will live forever. 

Lent Day 5 - Carrying A Heavy Load

"If you forgive men their transgressions,

your heavenly Father will forgive you.

But if you do not forgive men,

neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."

You cannot say that we were not warned.  How many people are there on this earth that are carrying a heavy load of hatred on their backs? The saddest part of being burdened with hate is simply it is a burden that no one will help you carry.  It is yours, and yours alone to trudge around with. It affects your health, it affects your mental health, it does no one any good but you still carry it. 

Read the scripture passage again. Read it slowly, let it sink into your very soul. Forgiving someone is not just a suggestion from Jesus, it is a command. Let me tell you about something that happened to me.  This is a true story.

My mother worked for a doctor. As part of her employee benefits, she was to receive free medical care.  One day she showed a growth on her shoulder to the doctor. The doctor though nothing of it and gave her some ointment to put on it.  after four months of this "treatment" it was no better.  My mother visited with another doctor friend and showed him the growth.  He immediately put her into the hospital where the cancer was removed.  She received treatments and scans showed that she appeared to be cancer free.  Them, about six months later the scans revealed the cancer was back in the form of a very aggressive form of lung cancer. Mom was scheduled for surgery and her children were there and she was sent off to the operating room knowing that she was loved.  The surgeon did the best he could and the surgery bought Mom about a year he said.  Four days later my mother lapsed into a coma, she had given up.  She died with her children around her. At the funeral I noticed two women sitting alone and I went up to them and thanked them for coming.  My sister came up to me afterwards and told me that one of the ladies, she pointed out which one, was the doctor that cared so very little that she could not be bothered to properly treat my mother.  At that moment my heart filled with hate for this so-called doctor.  We buried my mother and I went into depression.  I did not recognize it as depression.  I lost interest in things.  I was a great reader and kept reading the same books over and over. I quit taking care of the little things in life and felt sad all of the time.  Had that doctor come before me during this time, I think that I would have been capable of killing her and believing that I had done the world a favor.  The hate had possession of my soul.  Going to work every day I passed a Catholic Church.  It was my habit to make the sign of the cross when I passed a church because I knew that inside those walls was the Holy Eucharist, the very Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.  One day i had followed my custom when I heard a voice inside me telling me to forgive that doctor.  I broke, then and there, with tears in my eyes I forgave that doctor.  At that very moment, the cloud I was living under disbursed, the depression left me and I was able to take up life again.  There was one lasting effect that I carry with me to this very day.  I cannot hate anymore. I have forgiven the woman that killed my mother. What more could you do to me that would be worse? 

I think that the important part of this story is that forgiving did much more for me than it did for the person I forgave.  It gave me my life back.  Besides, the person who was the object of my hate did not even know it. So, forgiveness will bring much more to you.  It will bring peace to your soul.  Mind you, I would not invite this woman to lunch, but I also would wish her no harm and I prayed that God would bless her.  Was this hard to do?  Well, it took me six months of misery and pain to do it, so it was not the easiest thing I have ever done. But the peace it brought to me was a gift from God

Do not forget that for a Christian, forgiving is not optional, it is required.  We cannot enter heaven with hate on our soul.  Heaven is a place of great joy and happiness and discord is not allowed there.  Imagine if I met this doctor in heaven and still had hate in my heart for her.  Hate cannot exist in heaven for God is Love.

Hate - Why it is No Good For You

This is a true story. My mother was a simple soul. She did have a habit of analyzing people a bit too much and spent a lot of time looking for happiness to ambush her from the outside. I don't think that she ever learned  that happiness radiates from the inside of a person, that it is a seed that needs careful nurturing and by taking care of it a life takes on a glow that nothing from the outside of it will have permanent effect. She was love by myself and my three younger siblings and as we grew she taught us many lessons in life. For example, through the dark days of fourth grade where it seemed I was always in trouble with the teacher, she told me to no matter what, hold my head high and be proud of who I was. I just want to give you an idea of the beauty that was inside of the soul of my mother Violet.  

She worked as an assistant in a doctor's office and part of her compensation package was medical care. One day she showed a growth that was on her shoulder to the doctor she worked with. The doctor took a quick look and prescribed an anointment. My mother carefully followed the doctors instructions and after about six months there was no improvement. She went to visit the doctor whom she worked for previously who was in retirement and he took one look at the growth and diagnosed it as cancer. She went to another doctor who removed the growth and believed he had gotten it all. But several months later at a check up it was discovered that the cancer had metastasized to her lungs and that her condition was terminal. 

The chemo would prolong her life and she was referred to a well known surgeon in the Chicago area and he said she possibly could get more time if she would allow him to operate. Mom scheduled the operation. It was scheduled for early afternoon and it was with shock that when we arrived at the hospital we found Mom on a gurney being taken to surgery! We thought we would have had some precious time to talk with her and comfort her but a cancelled surgery meant that they could take her early.  We did get to make her feel loved as the attendant pushed her into the elevator and we began the waiting game. The surgeon eventually came into the waiting room a smile on his face saying that everything had gone good and he removed as much of the growth as he could and he estimated from what he could see that she might have a year, maybe a little more, to live.  We went into see her and she was on a respirator, but alert and able to communicate by writing on a board that the nurses provided her with.  I lived a fair distance from the hospital so the second day post-op I took the day off from visiting and went to work. The next day something had changed. Mom was no longer able to respond. If we put the pen into her hand she would try to write but the pen would slip from her hand. As the day went on she became less and less responsive until at 7:11 P.M. she passed away.

The next few days we did the needful and arranged a funeral mass at St. Joseph and St. Anne Church and laid our mother to rest.  At the wake I was introduced to her employer, the doctor that cared so little that she allowed what could have been a fixable issue to become a terminal one.  I looked at her and thought that, "This bitch killed my mother."  My heart filled with hate but I softly thanked the woman for coming to the wake. 

After all of the excitement of the wake, funeral, and the funeral luncheon there was nothing but time left. Time to mourn, time to remember the sharing of our lives with our mother. For me there was also time to hate. Now I have to say I would not in any way, shape, or manner physically hurt anyone. But mentally I killed that vile woman doctor many times. I slipped into depression but I did not recognize it for what it was. My symptoms included lethargy, lack of interest in things around me. I would read the same books over and over again and for six months I never once reconciled my checking account. 

I was working in a travel agency that was about fifteen miles from my home. I took a route through a beautiful tony suburb called Lake Forest. For months I hardly noticed the beauty of the trees. At one point I passed a Catholic Church. It was my habit to make the sign of the cross as I passed the church for brick and mortar could not separate me from the Love Incarnate in the form of Bread that was in the tabernacle. Then one day as I passed that Church and once again followed what in my mind had become an empty ritual, it came to me that as a Christian man,I could not hate, it was foreign to me. In that moment of what I believe was Christ sent inspiration I forgave that doctor, I granted her a full and complete pardon. At that moment a great weight was lifted off of my shoulders. My soul began to feel joyful again. Surely I still missed my mother, but I knew that she was with God. The other benefit I could claim from this encounter was that from that moment on I could not hate anyone else. I had forgiven my mother's killer, what could you do to me that would be worse that killing her?  

There have been disappointments in life, where friends have failed me in major ways but I could not hold anger or resentment to them. I just had to forgive! 

So the lesson I learned, taught to me by the hand of God through His Son is that hate for any reason is self defeating. It closed the universe around you. You develop myopia of the soul and risk wasting vast amounts of time seeking revenge.  This is all at great cost to your body and your soul. 

Is there anyone in your life that you need to forgive?  I don't mean you have to eat lunch with them and invite them to join you on vacation! No, I mean just the simple act of granting them mercy and absolving them from the real debt that they owe you. You don't have to tell them if you don't want to. If they are a close relative, you may approach them in time and begin to reconstruct your relationship but that is not necessary to forgive the hurt that was done to you. I can give you an absolute guaranty that if you do this in your heart you will awaken parts of your soul that go dormant when you carry hate in your heart.  Forgive and forget? I don't think that it is possible to forget an evil that is done to you. It is part of our survival skill set. But forgiving that person who hurt you the most will set you free to live and love in the paradise that God has given us. 

Remember well the prayer we say daily, the Lord's Prayer, the prayer given to us by Jesus Himself. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us..." Do you think he was kidding?  God is ready to forgive us every day we sin against Him. He will forgive us in the same measure that we have forgiven others. 

Thank you Pope Francis for declaring this the year of mercy. May we learn to be merciful to each other.