Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Jesus calls us to forgive one another from our hearts. This makes sense. Forgiveness cannot be authentic if it doesn’t come from our inmost being. But we also have to recognize that in order to access our hearts, most of us have many layers to go through. Our hearts can be thick and hardened by wounds old and new, by neglect, by layer upon layer of defense.
Can we really be so shocked at the servant who after receiving patience and compassion is incapable of offering it to his fellow worker? Perhaps the goodness received had not yet penetrated to the soft center of his heart. Perhaps fear had the upper hand, and he acted against his fellow servant out of instinct, in the way that life had taught him how.
I think only a divine physician could help remove the thick layers of hurt and protection our hearts have taken on. But this requires patience. We may find we’ll need to ask for it 77 times…perhaps more.