The Power of Forgiveness

The story of Maria Goretti, the young virgin and martyr whose feast is celebrated today, is one that generations have read with a mixture of horror and fascination.Maria was only 11 years old when she was attacked and shortly died from injuries inflicted –murdered – by a would-be rapist. That’s the horrific part of her story. The fascinating part is

Fully Love

One thing Jesus never could stomach is a hypocrite. In the stories, He always prefers sincere sinners to religious fakers. It’s easy to slip into the role of a synthetic disciple without even noticing. Our religious routines — prayer, Mass attendance, lip-synched proper responses to moral issues — can go on autopilot. Meanwhile,

Emotional Suicide, Anyone?

We are told in today’s reading (Matthew 18:21-35) that the unforgiving servant will be “tortured” for failing to forgive another, after having been forgiven himself.

Because a parable is a symbolic way of talking about a profound truth, we can take the word tortured metaphorically and ask, “In what way are we ‘tortured’ when we fail to forgive?” Failing to forgive makes us hostage to our hurt.

Unable to move on, we become captives, prisoners to our own resentment. Unwilling to accept the imperfections of others, we can become

Forgiveness Made Real In Boston

Woodcut image of the 1834 burning of the Ursuline Convent in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

In 1834, the Irish Catholics of Boston were ready to avenge the ransacking and burning of an Ursuline convent by a Protestant mob. (See also: http://www.celebrateboston.com/crime/ursuline-convent-destruction.htm) But on August 17 of that year, Bishop Benedict Fenwick preached a message of forgiveness in the cathedral and effectively stopped any retribution and bloodshed. Matthew’s gospel today (Matthew 18:21—19:1) challenges us to forgive unconditionally. It is possible. Forgiveness works. We all have someone we could forgive today. It can make a real difference.

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21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22Jesus answered,

All God Wants Is Our Heart

Widowed young (age 28) and suddenly, Jane Frances de Chantal (1572-1641) faced a difficult life raising her six children alone. Then she chanced to hear Francis de Sales preach and became his lifelong friend. She was taken by the notion that “all God wants is our heart,” and her writings are centered on the two facets of love: devotion to God and neighbor. She was

Bullying: Yes, it’s real, and yes, you have ultimate power over bullies.

In the past couple days, in the course of my reading on Professional Nursing Development & other healthcare related topics, I’ve also read about forgiveness.

Nurse bullying is a real thing. It’s tragic, of course, that it exists, but it does exist, and is probably more common than some imagine.

So we’ve moved from forgiveness to bullying, eh?

No… not really.

Here’s why not.

Bullying is never acceptable behavior.

Bullying, of course, is threatening and intimidating behavior used as a manipulative technique by someone who wants to force themselves, their ways, or opinions, on another person. And because Nursing is an exceedingly Female-dominated profession, that means that for the most part, Females are the ones doing bullying in Nurse bullying cases & scenarios.

And to be certain, bullying can occur in any human relationship, personal or business-to-business – it isn’t limited to the schoolyard.

Here’s where the forgiveness part comes in handy.

Our internal response to bullying is

Forgiveness Transforms And Redeems Lives

Photo of St. Maria Goretti attributed to February 13, 1902, about five months before she was attacked by Alessandro Serenelli.

Maria Goretti was not even 12 years old when she rebuked the attempted rape by her 18-year-old neighbor July 5, 1902. After the death of her father, she and her family became so poor that they had to move in with neighbors. Alessandro Serenelli, the 18-year-old who attempted to rape her was so angered at her refusal, that he used an awl and stabbed young Maria more than a dozen times. She was rushed to a nearby hospital, operated upon without benefit of anesthesia, and died less than 24 hours later… but not without first forgiving her attacker. And upon her deathbed she received the sacraments, and offered forgiveness to her attacker. But her forgiving was not yet fully complete.

Judges in Serenelli’s case considered

Homeless Veterans: A Rational Perspective

Let’s get some perspective.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s January 2012 annual point-in-time count found that 633,782 people across the United States were homeless, 57,849 of which were veterans.

  

However,

Marriage Tips

6 Ways to Develop Intimacy in Your Relationship

Excerpted from the book Road Warrior by Stephen Arterburn and Sam Gullucci

There are six external activities that can help you build a strong intimacy in your marriage and sustain you while you are on the road and separated.

1. Laughing Together

Laughter is a doorway to intimacy. It is like an instant vacation in a marriage and the best way to keep perspective when things go wrong. If you laugh together, you can cry together, and

All You Need Is Love

I recollect, a few years ago, having gone with a dear friend to the apartment where her former husband lived.

He had died alone.

D’Angelo (not his real name) was a retired Army NCO, whom had volunteered for service. He was genuinely a “squared away” soldier, and rose to the rank of First Sergeant (E-8), which rank is politely nicknamed “Top,” because, aside from Sergeant Major which is also an E-8 position, it is the highest rank and position a NCO can obtain.

His generosity was well-known, and his humility, honesty and genuine love for his fellow man was evident throughout his life. And though he was a good man with many admirable character qualities, a congenial fellow, well liked – even loved – by many, it seemed he never could win the battle over the bottle.

What little I know of him from others’ reports and my own limited interaction with him, he was an honorable family man. And yet, his family didn’t know it, and apparently had low regard for him because of his human frailty, particularly for the bottle.

When he had retired from the Army, never one to merely sit still and wait for things to happen, he became

A Letter to My Friend

K,

I thought I’d share a brief note with you about what’s going on in my life.

It’s almost Easter, and I’m almost complete with the RCIA process – Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, the process by and through which one becomes Catholic. Everything culminates on Easter. And though at this point