By Isabella H. de Carvalho
Forgiveness spreads a healing love that can overcome all human hatred, resentment and division, Pope Leo XIV said in his Angelus message on Sunday, Sep 13, in St Peter’s Square.
“Forgiveness is indispensable, and without it, we cannot live in peace. Sooner or later conflicts, accusations, grudges and acts of vengeance emerge in our hearts and among people, and these acts destroy relationships, divide families and unleash wars,” he underlined.
“Only forgiveness sets us free and restores the light, even where human material and moral poverty has darkened the horizon and made the path uncertain. Forgiveness, like a gentle breeze, sweeps away even the thickest clouds until the sun shines once more.”
“Let us therefore ask the Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy,” the Pope continued, “to help us forgive — always, even when it is difficult to take the first step — and to spread, with courage and perseverance, the serene and healing light of love that overcomes hatred and disarms all resentment.
READ THE FULL TEXT OF THE POPE’S WORDS HERE
Forgiving gratuitously without measure
Pope Leo XIV was reflecting on this Sunday’s Gospel, taken from Matthew, in which Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who has sinned against him and if as many as seven times is enough. Christ replies, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”
“Seven symbolizes fullness in the Bible,” the Pope explained, and thus Jesus is saying that as Christians we are called to forgive “beyond all limits, without measure.” In this regard, the Pope highlighted that forgiveness “is a fundamental feature of the Christian life.”
In the Gospel, Christ then also tells the parable of a servant who owed his master an impossibly high debt, but “was forgiven out of pure mercy,” and then “he did not extend the same mercy toward one of his fellow servants,” and was consequently punished.
The Pope emphasized that with these words Jesus is reminding us that “gift and forgiveness are the foundation of our existence” because “all things are given to us by God out of pure love, and none of us can claim to be perfect in responding to such goodness.”
Hence, “gratuitousness” is the source of our existence but also “the best rule for our life together” in order to live in harmony with one another and be set free from the things that weigh us down, the Pope insisted.
Peter’s experience of forgiveness
The Pope also pointed to Peter as an example of what experiencing Jesus’ forgiveness means. After having denied knowing Jesus during the Passion, despite being one of his closest disciples, he saw the risen Christ who asked him, “’Simon … do you love me?’ This was accompanied by an invitation, ‘follow me!’, which was the same invitation given on the occasion of their first encounter.”
“It was as if nothing had happened,” as if his denial of Christ had never occurred. “This love, which forgives and heals,” was so powerful that it “would mark for the first of the Apostles, the confirmation of his mission,” the Pope said. – Vatican News
