Kind promise: I will forgive with wild abandon.
The headline is “Pope says forgiveness trumps morality.” Today Pope Francis began a Year of Jubilee by saying “How much wrong we do to God and his grace when we speak of sins being punished by his judgment before we speak of their being forgiven by his mercy.”
How much wrong we do ourselves and each other when we fail to forgive.
Judgment is necessary and helpful – sometimes. My frontal cortex is developed for a reason! Thinking about future repercussions of my actions, I can save myself and others from harm and upset. I want to do what brings life and avoid what deadens.
Judgment before an act may save me from mistakes. The only good use of judgment after the act is to prevent future missteps.
Unfortunately, I spend too much time weighing my own and others’ actions on my internal – often harsh – scales. (I judge my own thoughts and feelings in addition to actions. That gives me so much more room for error!)
Mercy is a wonderful word – it’s one of those words that sounds like what it is – soft, yielding, musical.
I’ve been thinking about how I want to live and the phrase “sacred presence” comes to mind. If I truly practice being in the sacred, then I will live in mercy.