FORGIVING ONE’S SELF

1^ST READING - Colossians 3:12-17

12 Brothers and sisters: Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved,heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. 14 And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection. 15And let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which you were also called in one Body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as in all wisdom you teach and admonish one another, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

P S A L M - Psalm 150:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R: Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!

1 Praise the Lord in his sanctuary, praise him in the firmament of his strength. 2 Praise him for his mighty deeds, praise him for his sovereign majesty. (R) 3 Praise him with the blast of the trumpet, praise him with lyre and harp, 4 praise him with timbrel and dance, praise him with strings and pipe. (R) 5 Praise him with sounding cymbals, praise him with clanging cymbals. 6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Alleluia. (R)

GOSPEL ACCLAMATION

If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love is brought toperfection in us.

Luke 6:27-38

27 Jesus said to his disciples: “To you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount. 35 But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful. 37 Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. 38 Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

SABBATH

In the pursuit of our dreams, we inevitably commit mistakes and encounter defeat along the way. And more often than not, we feel bad because our mistakes and failures seem to indicate that we are never good enough. But have we pondered on this statement deeply? Whoever said we were not good enough?        Most of the time, it is our own self — our own pride — trying to tell us: “You are no better compared to him; you should have been number one, not him,” and so on. We hate not being number one. But what’s wrong with being the second best?        We are held in bondage by the competitions we impose upon ourselves, without realizing that the true delimiting figure in our life lies at the very core of our being, hidden in the deepest recesses of our heart. We will never be able to win the race that is not ours in the first place. We need to free ourselves from competition.        The Gospel today talks about forgiveness: “Forgive and you will be forgiven.” It invites us to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful. Butmore than being other-directed, forgiveness should first spring from within us. We can only truly begin to forgive others if we first learn to forgive ourselves for our shortcomings, our failures, our indecisions.        Know that God always forgives those who forgive others, including themselves. And He is a God of second chances. We should not be restricted by the mistakes, defeats and indecisions of the past. The present has the power to redeem our past; it has the capacity to change our future.        Let us ask ourselves today: What are we capable of doing? And then, quite calmly, go off in search of our own immense potential,  claiming boldly that gifts will be given to us — a good measure, packed together, shaken down and overflowing! Fr. Erick Y. Santos, OFS REFLECTION QUESTION: Have you totally forgiven yourself and others? Lord, thank You for giving me a second chance each time I fail and fall. Amen. St. Ailbhe, pray for us. Do you want to receive this in your email. To get Bo Sanchez to send it to you personally, register and log-on to http://kerygmafamily.com. Lots of surprises await.