Save as PDFIn the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!
The Lord says “If you don’t forgive others their failings, your heavenly Father won’t forgive your failings either”. Our Holy Church meets us with this news; such condition is offered to us on the threshold of the Great Lent. Let’s hear the word of God, hear his commandment and sincerely forgive today all who offended us some day.
The Apostle writes “who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand for the Lord is able to make him stand. One man regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Let each man be fully convinced in his own mind”. Here is an advice he gives. Don’t condemn others: they aren’t your slaves; they are the slaves of God. Look after yourself, look how you behave and the Lord knows himself what to do with others. Did anybody offend you? He will give answer for this before God and you behave like a Christian, don’t keep the offence, forgive him, let God judge that man. Because if we fast and at the same time be angry with anyone or condemn, we’ll cancel all our Lent, because our heart won’t be clean. How can we read the Lord’s Prayer and say the words “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” and at the same time continue to take offence at our debtors and offenders? Then it will turn out that we play the hypocrite and deceive God.
Every man goes his own way, everybody has his own life and one needn’t condemn anybody. Christ himself says, “if you forgive others their failings, your Heavenly Father will forgive you yours”. Today is Forgiveness Sunday and there is an ancient tradition to ask for everybody’s forgiveness on this day. To ask for all, especially for those you have a quarrel with. The Lord says clearly: if you get angry with anybody, if you take offence at anybody, it means that the Lord won’t forgive you either. He simply won’t be able to forgive you and not because He is so bad. The Lord doesn’t judge a man, a man judges himself. If his heart is rancorous not capable to forgive, it won’t be able to accommodate the grace of God. While there is malice in the heart, the grace of God can’t enter it, and so a man can’t purify himself from sin. And purification from sin is the forgiveness of God. We sing and read in the temple many times “Lord, have mercy”. And did we ourselves have mercy upon our offender, did we forgive everybody? No? Then what do we want from God? Heart must be purified. If you get angry with anybody, take offence at anybody, if anybody irritated you and in your heart there is evil, hatred, contempt to this man, then one must overcome this evil, one must make an effort of soul to forgive, otherwise you will die with your sins and will never be able to get to the Kingdom of God.
And if we overcome ourselves, forgive everybody sincerely, we’ll understand that there is nothing better in the world, and we’ll become so happy. Because the heart will be purified, because evil will leave us. Great Lent must become for us a new step which will make us nearer to God, because fast isn’t simple absence of sausage, meat, milk, sour cream. It’s too easy for a man, too simple not to eat something. But to forget offences to reconcile with enemy is a deed for a man, it’s difficult, but without it we can’t say we are Christians, we can’t even say, – Lord, have mercy.
Dear brothers and sisters, forgive me a sinner, if I have offended somebody by word, deed or thought. Amen