Alpha and OmegaChrist is both creator and saver, Alpha and Omega, lion and lamb. Christ brings hope and optimism to a world sadly needing it. Christ is the full and perfect revelation of God’s self to us, his created. Christ brings to his followers – no matter their circumstances – the wisdom of the creator. Christ brings newness and perfection to the human race – he brings full maturity, a true knowing of self. The Church – which we comprise – is not merely a large number of people who believe the same thing – who hold a story in common. The Church is a spiritual reality – a mysterious community made dynamic with the sap that is Christ. The Church becomes one with and in Christ. Christ is the center of the universe. Christ is universal. Christ is mystery. We are mystery. (Thoughts from the introduction to “Carta a los Colosenses” from page 1787 of BIBLIA DE AMÉRICA.)
We do not complete Christ. Christ completes us. And this is the mystery to me . . . that despite our faults and our wanderings, Christ persists in his love for us. He remains always open to possibility in us, to newness in us. Christ hopes in and for us. This always was, it is, it always will be. In all the mystery of life . . . we can be certain of this one thing . . . Christ is. And that alone is enough. This, too, is mystery.
LA BIBLIA DE LA AMÉRICA. 8th. Madrid: La Casa de la Biblia, 1994. Print. I
Rembrandt: The Unforgiving ServantIt is so very difficult to forgive those who have wronged us grievously; and it is also difficult to curb the pressing urge to seek revenge against our enemies. Jesus tells us today that we must endlessly forgive those who harm us . . . otherwise we are like the unforgiving servant in today’s parable. And the frightening outcome of his life is not one we want for ourselves or our loved ones.
Seventy-seven times, we are told by scholars and experts, represents a number of completion. By forgiving endlessly we near the perfection or completion we yearn for. The irony here is that when we become the unforgiving servant we distance ourselves from the very fullness we seek. We label ourselves as partial and lacking. Jesus warns us of this today.
Luke also records that Jesus tells his followers they must forgive endlessly (17:4). This is something they and we struggle to understand. Our instincts tell us to attack, defend, justify and explain. We want to come out of any dispute or confrontation as the clear and evident winner. We want to survive. For most of us it is difficult to walk away from an argument or to allow another to have the last word; yet Jesus tells us that our first step toward wholeness is to forgive. Reconciliation will follow if we remain open. Isolation, anger and fear become more distant and even impossible when we turn our backs on revenge and seek union instead. Jesus calls us to this today.
St. Paul reminds the Ephesians (4:32) to be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ. Which one of us, he implies, is so perfect that we cannot forgive? And how do we hold a grudge when Jesus – God among us – does not? St. Paul points this out to us today.
Immaculée IlibagizaFollowing the horrific genocide in Rwanda, the warring Hutus and the Tutsis were brought together in a journey from fighting to forgiveness. We follow events as they unfold; we want this reconciliation to work because this coming together of bitter enemies tells us that we are worth redeeming. It shows us what God sees in us. It reminds us of God’s covenant promise to us. Powerful testimonials to our capacity to forgive can be found in both print and video media and here are only a few examples. http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/8564297/ns/today/t/fighting-forgiveness-rwanda/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK0W4jx2OZY and http://articles.cnn.com/2008-05-15/world/amanpour.rwanda_1_hutu-gitarama-tutsis?_s=PM:WORLDWhen we read, hear or view these stories, we take heart. We once again bolster ourselves for the difficult yet redeeming task of forgiving others. We once more feel the stirrings of hope in our tired hearts. We again pull ourselves away from our fear to love our enemies into goodness.
Kill them with kindness,my mother always advised, taking her example from Jesus. Let God worry about the other guy, Dad always told us, knowing that evil is too enormous and too dangerous for us to conquer on our own. In her book entitled Left to Tell: Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Genocide,Immaculée Ilibagiza tells her story that echoes those of so many other holocaust survivors that God resides even in the center of hell itself if that is where he has to be in order to save us. This is how much God loves us. This is how much we can love one another.
When we feel ourselves drawn into this story as the master or the servants, we know that it holds something for us. When we find ourselves giving over to the anger within us and fear that it will control our thoughts, words and actions, we will want to turn to this story. When someone who has wronged us approaches us in humble fear of our retaliation, let us reach out a warm and welcoming hand and remember the words that Jesus taught us to pray . . . Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And let us remember the story of the unforgiving servant.
A re-post from January 17, 2012.
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