Tag Archives: Forgiveness

2022-02-19 · 1:29 pm

Mt 5:39 turning other cheek: meaning

Repost! Warning: Bad language. Violence. The following monologue is what I’m after:

  • No! No! No! No! No! No! No! Con paz! Con paz! Soerte la pistola! Tirala! Pregunto, paisano: quiere morir?
  • Super loose translation: No! No! No! No! No! No! No! With peace! With peace! Take your gun! Throw it down! I ask you, my friend: Do you want to die?

That’s the CIA/FBI team at the El Paso/Ciudad Juarez border. They end the threat of the cartel idiot deadly aggression. That’s the kind of turning the other cheek that I’m talking about!

But is that what Jesus means by turning the other cheek? You remember the passage:

  • Offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other one to him as well. (Matthew 5:39)

“Offer no resistance.” That’s the specious politically correct translation of the New American Bible, which belongs to the Confraternity for Christian Doctrine, which is itself under the thumb of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. The translation needs some examination. If we depend on our weak and cowardly fallen human nature, proffering “offer no resistance” would seem to be correct, especially in view of the immediate and purposed parallels of the larger passage related by Matthew (5:38-42):

  1. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.
  2. If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well.
  3. Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles.
  4. Give to the one who asks of you; do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow.”

So, the translation “offer no resistance” would seem to be right and just. Indeed, Jesus prefaces all these remarks by saying:

  • “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, BUT I SAY TO YOU…” (Matthew 5:38)

In other words, Jesus is specifically rejecting a merely equal and opposite reaction, the “tooth for tooth” modus operandi elsewhere promoted in the Sacred Scriptures inspired by the ever truthful Holy Spirit:

  • “Limb for limb, eye for eye, tooth for tooth! The same injury that a man gives another shall be inflicted on him in return.” (Leviticus 24:20)
  • “Do not look on such a man with pity. Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot!” (Deuteronomy 19:21)

Jesus is not pitting Himself against the Holy Spirit, for such instruction regarding the gravity of sin against our very brothers is holy, true, just and fitting for pedagogy regarding the one supreme teaching on forgiveness provided by Jesus when He put Himself in our place, taking on the sentence of death we deserve for our sin against Him, the Innocent for the guilty, Life for life (He died on the Cross), eye for eye (the Shroud of Turin seems to depict the crowning with thorns also piercing His eyes), tooth for tooth (He was beaten beyond recognition on His face, His mouth), hand for hand (recall the nails of the crucifixion), and foot for foot (recall the nails of the crucifixion)!” We have to know how serious the sin is if we are going to correctly ask for forgiveness and be prepared to receive it fruitfully.

In view of the sins of all crucifying our Lord Jesus, we all deserve everything we get. The great saints emphasize this with a passion. Yes. But is this what anyone is talking about, Jesus or the saints? Should we just give up and say that “offer no resistance” is a good translation and be done with it?

I don’t know about you, but my entire spirit rebels against all of this seeming doormat stuff of questionable translations. Just because we are forgiven and we are to forgive others, that doesn’t mean that we just throw justice out the window. Jesus stood up for Himself over against the scribes and Pharisees, turning the tables with a word, but with ferocity. Jesus also stood up for us, His little flock. So, what are we to think of all this? Is it too difficult? This is important. Let’s take a deeper dive into the ever enthralling words of the Holy Spirit about the Incarnate Word of God, Christ Jesus.

What if that “offer no resistance” thing actually meant something else altogether? What if the actual literal Greek μὴ ἀντιστῆναι followed by the dative means “not to make a stand over against a very particular thing”? Ha ha!

Making a stand over against a very particular thing IS NOT EQUATED with a merely equal and merely opposite reaction:

  • Being merely reactionary implies that we have nothing to add to over against unjust aggression except more aggression of the same unjust sort. We’re not to stoop to that level, you know, the ol’ “I’LL SHOW YOU!” That helps no one. And it says that we are controlled by the other person entirely, ever so predictable. Our identity then lies in reaction: we are vacuous nothings.
  • Instead, making a stand over against a very particular thing embraces love in truth or “tough love” as some call it. It’s not a reaction, but a way of being a true friend, a good parent, how to bring someone out of the quagmire, enabling them to grow, even in the midst, necessarily, of letting a needy person know that they are on the wrong path.
  • Also, making a stand over against a very particular thing doesn’t rule out offering pardon to someone who needs pardoning. In fact, it is necessary. You can’t forgive something that you hold to be good. Someone is not able to take in forgiveness if they are convinced they are not doing any wrong ever. Someone is not able to forgive if they are convinced no wrongdoing was committed. Take the liberal-knucklehead priest who, upon hearing a confession to murder said that that’s not a sin at all, that the person will not receive absolution because there was no sin in the first place. How frustrating is that?
  • Just to say: being a doormat, encouraging people to commit unjust aggression, is no favor to the other person or to yourself. Don’t be the doormat. Forgive real iniquity. Make sure the other person knows you’re not being a doormat.

Yikes! So, let’s examine those parallels offered by Jesus to see if they are really about being a doormat. When we go through these, you’ll see how easy it is to drink the Kool-Aid of the nicey nice crowd, but also how good it is to follow Jesus with integrity:

(1) “When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well”:

Keep in mind that the idea here is that we are dealing with unjust, violent aggression. In this situation, turning the other cheek has nothing to do with weakness, but rather everything to do with challenging to a fight: Is that all you got? No, really, show me your worst, and then when you’ve shown me your worst – with me having turned my other cheek to you to give you a fresh target – I will then give you some instruction about how things really are. In the following video (language and the kind of violence Jesus Himself is talking about), a girl is struck on her cheek, hard. The Star of David tattoo guy steps in to be the other cheek that is turned. The black-vest guy had already jacked up the stakes with another strike as deadly threat: “I’m the guy who decides if you’re going to walk out of here alive.”

Jesus’ advice is about not backing down to unjust aggression against the innocent. It’s about stopping an ongoing threat by showing bullies that they are actually nothing more than cowards. There are so very many examples of this in the Gospels, wherein Jesus demonstrates how cowardly His opponents are, for instance, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead in front of the murderous Herodians, or by having the guy with the withered hand come out front and center over against those being so hateful. In both instances the Herodians and the hateful immediately plotted to kill Jesus. That’s what cowards do. See Mark 3:6; John 12:10, etc. Might we suffer for this? Sure. No one said that “Take up your cross daily” was a walk in the park. Solidarity with those who suffer has consequences. But this also leads to repentance and salvation for aggressors such as with the Centurion on Calvary (Mark 15:39). I have many stories. Oh my. There are so many cowards who instantly run when you stand up to them. Some do feel guilty and return to the Lord.

(2) “If anyone wants to go to law with you over your tunic, hand him your cloak as well”:

Keep in mind that the idea here is that we are dealing with unjust acquisition of private property by someone who hides behind the cover of corrupt attorneys and corrupt judges. Keep in mind that those listening to Jesus in sincerity are not those who have tons of money to burn on litigation. Handing over a cloak as well has nothing to do with weakness. It is an insult, highly sarcastic: Oh, so you think that ripping people off is what life is all about. Well, let me just seal you in your stupidity. Here, take my cloak as well, you stupid little fool. No, really! Take it! It is God Himself who will come to judge the living and the dead and world by fire. Jesus will take care of bringing such people around if they want that. But Jesus doesn’t want us to wear ourselves out with resources we don’t have on people whose only joy in life is to make others miserable. It’s not the tunic or cloak, but the power to inflict misery that they are after. Anecdote: I know people who will spend tens of thousands of dollars to litigate about their entitlement to be a pain in the neck. I remember one in particular who gifted an ultra-cheap CD player to another someone decades ago. The recipient of decades ago gave that CD player to me quite recently. I received it graciously, but, having no need for it, I in turn, gave it immediately to charity. I even had the permission of the original recipient to do this. WELL, the original purchaser of decades ago freaked out, recalculated the cost of that CD player in today’s money, something like 35 dollars and 47 cents ($25 at the time?), and demanded I pay it back, with interest, and I had better pay this immediately or else! I instantaneously offered to drive hours on end to deliver the few dollars, in coins, to the penny. Ha ha ha. I called the bluff. That offer was forthwith rejected. I have done this many times in such situations. It’s just about guaranteed that the bully-coward will back down. Don’t think this is being a doormat. This is inflicting a huge burden of guilt upon them whether they think so or not. This is meant to bring them around for eternal salvation.

(3) “Should anyone press you into service for one mile, go with him for two miles”:

Keep in mind that the idea here is that we are dealing with unjust aggression, this time by the government. “Being pressed into service” is a terrible translation. The word is extremely technical in Greek: καὶ ὅστις σε ἀγγαρεύσει. It refers to temporary and immediate enslavement, dropping everything you’re doing, regardless, that very second, until even your health is going to be destroyed. The image is that of a relay race, handing off a baton, so that a courier is delivering a message from, say, an emperor to a mere vassal king. As the runner comes to the point of death, he hands this off to another who is under pain of death, of course, to take up the chasing of the wind. If a citizen shows himself exemplary with no complaint, and in fact doubles what is terribly unjustly expected of him, it is a challenge to the corrupt political powers that be. It rips the heart out of the person who is inflicting unjust expectations. I’ve seen this uncountable times: when unjust politicians come across an actually honest citizen, their physical and mental health suffers, sending them into a downward spiral until we just don’t hear from them anymore. Yep. But also this is meant to bring about the repentance of the bully-cowards who are fearful of themselves.

(4) “Give to the one who asks of you; do not turn your back on one who wants to borrow”:

All the previous parallel examples of Jesus deal with unjust aggression. They’ve been progressively jacked up: (1) personal; (2) public litigation; (3) governmental tyranny.

With number (4) in the series, we are not falling back to something merely personal as some sort of delving into the literary convention of “inclusion” (that which is found both at the beginning and end). No. The intensification of the series continues. Here, there is an involvement of God. Rather unexpected? No. The other examples involved unjust aggression. But we are such tender snowflakes that we don’t know what unjust aggression is as opposed to imaginary micro-aggression tantrums. Take someone rightly asking for a loaf of bread to feed his kids instead of him stealing a loaf of bread. Just give the guy a loaf of bread and be Bishop Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel in your benevolence toward Jean Valjean. Or else! This time we’ll be forced to man up because God Himself will force our lack of will, our lack of sympathy, our lack of charity and faith. And if we go so far as to take a pledge, such as a man’s cloak (back to #2 above!) then we will give it back to him, or else we will face the wrath of God Himself. Jesus is citing Exodus 22:25-26:

  • “If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him before sunset; for this cloak of his is the only covering he has for his body. What else has he to sleep in? If he cries out to me, I will hear him; for I am compassionate.”

When God Himself says “I will hear him”, it means that God will smack down the un-compassionate person harder than any personal attack, harder than any public litigation, harder than any governmental litigation.

In other words, Jesus has no time for idiot narcissists in their unjust aggression.

In other words, Jesus wants to make sure we are not the idiot narcissists who, in a self-serving confusion, conflate unjust aggression with a genuine and humble request.

Jesus wants us to stand up against unjust aggression in the manner in which we can do this according to the circumstances. He doesn’t want us to waste the opportunity of an unjust aggression; Jesus wants us to provide the aggressor with a lesson in whatever way we are able in the circumstances.

But we had also better make sure we are not the unjust aggressors. God will forgive us if we forgive others.

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2020-09-14 · 11:16 am

Homily: The big sin Jesus might forgive us: offending His Mother by killing Jesus

I had to quit quite abruptly as all this was getting me choked up…

This is an instruction about forgiving others when everything in us is screaming out: “Vengeance is mine, not God’s!”

I give a couple of examples in my own life to demonstrate how it is that we can forgive. I had to learn. It took years. I had really been smashed down.

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2020-06-10 · 10:38 pm

“All whites” guilty of police brutality of “blacks”? “All whites” must apologize to “blacks”?

A reader sent in the following comment on a previous post, but it is highlighted here for greater visibility. [[My preliminary comments.]]:

  • “Father, I’ve heard several Catholic radio show hosts and journalists talk about “collective guilt” as if it is a Catholic teaching. [[I’m happy not to listen to or read such things! And I would guess some rather important personages have pushed this in whatever way… right?]]  One person went so far as to say that “whites” should go to confession and confess their participation in white supremacy! I let fly a couple of “cazzos” myself when I read that. [[That demand is pretty much demonic. That’s what hell would be like. Sorry, but to follow suit, that kind of F***ery has to stop, and stop now.]] How abhorrent & divisive that comment is. [[Yes.]] Is this a thing? [[Sure hope NOT!]] If it is, then should Jewish people ask for forgiveness for the crucifixion of Jesus? [[Yes, they should, like each person who has ever existed, for we, all of us, together, will gaze upon Him whom we have all pierced through with original sin and whatever rubbish sin of our own. No one is exempt.]] Should all priests get down on their knees because of the sexual abuse scandals? [[In reparation for the sins of others if not their own, yes, of course, but not because as a category of people they are automatically guilty.]] Should every Church leader beg for forgiveness because some moved these predators from parish to parish? [[Those who have not done this can express their regret, which is different from saying they were personally guilty of such stupidity.]] I don’t believe so (well, maybe except for the last one…where’s the McCarrick report??). [[I would surely like to know who knew what when and why it is that we haven’t heard a thing… and the whole China thing…]] Can you discuss in detail in your next posting?”

So, some more general comments of my own:

  • Back in my seminary days, in moral theology class, or “pastoral theology” class [whatever that is… still haven’t figured that out…], it was common to hear statements always ambiguous, non-sensical in nature (error never makes sense), about societal sin, or collective guilt as it is now being called, I guess. I didn’t understand it then. I don’t understand it now. Not on this level. No one is forced to sin because “everyone is doing it” or “I’ll be thrown in the ovens if I don’t throw others in the ovens.” You can always chose to do what is right, and go to heaven.
  • Meanwhile, original sin, the just consequences of which chosen with the sin are suffered by all, throws upon us a collective guilt, not in the sense of a personal sin as if we were directly identified with Adam himself in his personal choice which affected all of us, but in the effects of not being able to correctly appreciate God and love Him as we ought and therefore guilty of sin in not loving God as we ought. But original sin, irony of ironies, is rejected outright by the same people that promote collective guilt for the actions of an individual who we never even heard about before.
  • In the midst of the collective guilt of all for the offenses dreamed up by those who are narcissistically entitled to accuse, the same people promoting that nonsense hold themselves to have been immaculately conceived and are still absolutely sinless, everyone except, of course, the Immaculate Conception herself, Jesus’ good mom. No, really.
  • Saint John Paul II did apologize as the Vicar of Christ on earth for sins against the Jews that were wrought by whomsoever, taking such guilt on himself, even though he was never ever anti-Jewish and was not at all in solidarity with those were truly guilty. Many were quite upset with him because of doing this as the Pope. He went on to explain that it is only right for Jesus’ own vicar to do this not because he is guilty, but because he is not. He held himself to be guilty because he was in solidarity with Jesus being in solidarity with us. A bit convoluted, you say? Let’s take a look:
  • God so loved the world that He sent His only Son to take our place, the Innocent for the guilty, to take on the justice we deserved – death – for the worst we could give out: death. Death is the just comeuppance of sin, of a creature shaking his fist at his Creator. In standing in our place, not only because of Adam’s sin, but for all sins of all individuals, something horrifying and marvelous at the same time takes place.  Imagine yourself going to Confession, confessing any and all sin that mankind can and does commit, but now replace yourself with Christ Jesus, so that He is confessing your sin as if it were His own. Yes. That is what He has done for us, accusing Himself of our sin. And He is given a penance, to be ripped to shreds and crucified, the baptism in blood which He so desired to accomplish for our sake… for… us…
  • But that doesn’t mean that “whites” should apologize to “blacks” for the abuse meted out by one “white” individual over against a “black” individual. No, that’s just stupid political correctness which sets up all the wrong dynamics of bullying and kowtowing, mob rule. Also, talk is cheap. Let’s see – if need be anywhere – training upgraded, etc.
  • What we must uphold is a Constitutional Republic with the rule of law, with any democratically elected officials of whatever party upholding that Constitution and the rule of law.
  • Due process for all is to upheld. If not, we descend into entitlement to lie for the money or “power” over others that accusation equated with automatic guilt brings in its wake.

Finally, stare at that drawing above. Gaze upon Him whom we have all pierced (see Revelation 1:7) even as He took upon the collective guilt of us all. Tears come to my eyes. I am reminded of the words of a Psalm: “To You all flesh will come with its burden of sin.”

It may be that someone or other will mock me or even commit some sort of violence against me for holding that forgiveness is necessary, saying that I don’t have standing in the matter, or that such is self-serving. I answer by saying that a lack of forgiveness will rot the soul of anyone and everyone. Lack of forgiveness never helps the wronged person, the true victim. Lack of forgiveness only brings hate and violence in its wake, a self-loathing, a self-destruction.

  • Holding out forgiveness doesn’t mean you can tell someone you forgive them, as they might just kill you, saying they have nothing for which to be forgiven.
  • Holding out forgiveness doesn’t mean the other person can ever take this in, but that’s irrelevant to you holding forgiveness out to them, at least spiritually, even unknown to them.
  • Holding out forgiveness doesn’t meant that the crime, the sin wrought wasn’t important and can be dismissed as if it were nothing.
  • Holding out forgiveness is not an invitation for someone to commit the crime or sin again.
  • Holding out forgiveness does an infinite amount of good to the one who holds out the forgiveness… regardless…
  • Holding out forgiveness means that one is freed from just being in reaction to someone else, to the perp criminal sinner. This is soooo beneficial to the person who is the victim. And, if the truth be known, it heaps burning coals on the head of the one who is guilty, frustrating them because they no longer have power over you. Maybe they will come round to Jesus.

A little bit challenging all of that? Sure, as much as staring at that picture above…

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2018-01-09 · 5:01 am

Baptism of Jesus

john-the-baptist-collegeville

Statue of John the Baptist in my childhood parish.

  • So, because of Abraham’s lack of faith (and therefore lack of openness to, you know, life, for, like, what, 25 years before he finally believed in the Lord, and not because of his faith but because of the faith given to him by the Lord God, well, because of all that previous lack of faith there would be a punishment, which is that for hundreds of years the chosen people would be enslaved down in Egypt.
  • They were then brought to the Lord God on eagles wings. They went through the sea on dry ground and their pursuers, the soldiers and charioteers of Pharaoh, were drowned as a punishment for enslaving the chosen people for physical labor.
  • John the Baptist, the greatest prophet, preparing for the coming of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, wanted to give people an opportunity to have a humble and contrite heart so that they would be prepared for the words: “Father! Forgive them!” After all, the chosen people of his day had been enslaving each other in sin and deserved to die just like the soldiers and charioteers of Pharoah.
  • John, with utter brilliance, had the people come down into the waters of the Jordan, long a symbol of the sea during the exodus. The people confessed their sins publicly and went under the waters to show that, with humble and contrite heart, they deserved to die like the soldiers and charioteers of Pharaoh for enslaving each other in sin. Perhaps the Lord God would forgive them of their sin.
  • Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, comes down for the baptism to that, under the waters, the innocent for the guilty, He could confess our sins, the Suffering Servant, calling out to our Heavenly Father that He might be treated as guilty of all sin from Adam until the last man is conceived, and thus have the right in His own justice to have mercy on us.
  • After this event, when the skies opened, the Holy Spirit descended, and the Father spoke of His Beloved Son, Jesus then spoke of how much He was constrained until He could be baptized with the baptism for which He came, the Baptism in His own blood, the punishment for our sin.

Thank you, John. Thank you, Jesus.

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Those who have no sense of irony, that Jesus is Irony Incarnate, don’t get the plot, and are always stuck on merely external indicators of religion. Too bad, that.

For instance, from the right, about all I’ve ever heard is that Jesus sanctified the waters by His presence, thus recalling the Fathers of the Church, that is, their shorthand way of speaking in homilies and sermons. The Fathers packed in much more than that, but so many of those on the right don’t want to go there. They might get the plot.

For instance, from the left, the filthy, filthy, filthy left, about all I ever heard is that Jesus went down to John’s baptism unto repentance for the forgiveness of sin because He was in fact a sinner and He knew it or at least wanted to look politically correct because everyone else was going down for the baptism.

Jesus, have mercy, bring us into your way of salvation, your self-sacrifice, your truth, your goodness and kindness. Amen.

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2016-01-01 · 9:15 pm

Did you know that Mary’s Baby Boy is the great “I AM”?

finding christ in the temple bloch

Firstly, the painting: This is the Finding of Christ in the Temple by Carl Heinrich Bloch (†1890) of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. “Read,” if you will, about the moment Mary sees Jesus by reading the expression of the already bar-mitzvahed boy sitting on the steps of the temple. That boy sees her anguish, and that she’s the mother of Jesus who’s busy with his own bar-mitzvah. The boy on the steps is already running his own business of selling “a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons” (Luke 2:24). He has rope in hand, ready to tie up the feet of his captives to hand over in a bundle to anyone buying them for the sacrifice. Mary did make such a purchase twelve years earlier when Jesus had been presented in the Temple. Luke recounts Simeon’s words to Mary at that time, words that we are supposed to remember now: Continue reading →

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2015-12-23 · 8:49 am

Pope Francis’ Missionary of Mercy and an abuse victim to team up for the Year of Mercy?

DONALD NOHS AND FATHER JOE NOHS

There’s a lot of skepticism about the need for any Missionaries of Mercy, about the need for a Year of Mercy. It’s easier to forget about it than to think hard and do something. But, actually, it’s only the provision of mercy which makes everything better. The Missionaries of Mercy themselves have to come up with ways to facilitate the manifestation of Jesus’ mercy among us.

Those who have been abused are in desperate need of forgiving their abusers. The provision of mercy in this Year of Mercy is to come especially from them. Forgiveness is frightening, and the first reaction by the main-stream media is mocking rejection, filled with bitterness, enough to make many in Church fear to have anything to do with mercy and forgiveness.

But this is the Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, and we must simply rid ourselves of the grip that political correctness has on us. Otherwise, we fail ourselves, fail our neighbors, fail the world, fail God.

The ten videos below the page break of this post comprise an e-book personally read by the author, Donald Nohs, an abuse victim bringing a message of mercy and forgiveness to all who will listen. Donald knows that it’s all about Jesus.

In fact, his main preoccupation in life is to give a presentation about the Passion and Death of our Lord (the Shroud of Turin) so as to accentuate the depth of the mercy Jesus brings to us all with such goodness and kindness. Suffering knows suffering.

It is in seeing the suffering of Jesus that Donald is empowered to see his own suffering in the light of Christ. His testimony is about how he was brought to forgiveness of his abuser by Jesus Himself. This is a testimony which will help bring victims to forgiveness of their abusers.

As Donald points out,  it’s not possible that there be a reconciliation with a personal encounter between victims and their own abusers on this earth. The reason for that, of course, among so many other reasons on so many levels, is that there could be a grooming-ulterior-motive on the part of the abusers, right? But that doesn’t mean that the victim cannot at all forgive his abuser. Here are some quick thoughts that I jotted down while listening to Donald’s testimony:

  • Forgiveness doesn’t necessitate saying this to the abuser’s face or sending any kind of message whatsoever. In fact, as I say, that’s a bad idea.
  • Forgiveness doesn’t mean that the abuser can now or ever in the future receive this forgiveness into his soul. That’s up to him.
  • Forgiveness doesn’t mean that you are giving anyone permission to treat you with disrespect.
  • Forgiveness does mean that you avoid the total hell of bitterness and darkness, of being controlled by your abuser. In his lust for power, he wanted you to be in and remain in that total hell, which, for whatever reason, he was going through. His cowardice of projection is death dealing. One must leave such death of the abuser behind, doing this by the grace of God.
  • Forgiveness does not mean that you are automatically necessarily relieved of feelings and emotions which would have you lash out against your abuser, nor does it mean that you are necessarily immediately relieved of any possible temptation to replay the abuse, as it were, by hurting oneself in whatever way. It does mean that you are spiritually free of the abuser’s suffocating control of your person.
  • Forgiveness means that you are inviting the very love of God into your heart and soul, bringing you healing even as you desire this for others.

Donald dropped a comment into the comments box of the post I put up entitled: To (Arch)Bishops: Pope Francis’ Missionary of Mercy’s invitation to Victims of Abuse and to Treatment Centers for Priests. Could it be that we might be able to have some Year of Mercy events in Cathedrals right around the country? We shall see! We talked for about an hour and a half.

Donald sits on a diocesan accusations review board and has helped to write the policy dealing with accusations of abuse for his diocese. His bishop is right with him. The bishops will be able to see some aspects of my own ministry in the biographies of all the Missionaries of Mercy that the Holy See is sending to all the bishops, but I’ve included the required autobiographical paragraphs below the page break of this post, right at the end.

I’m very enthused about this. All (Arch)Bishops in the USA and territories have or will soon have the contact info of all the Missionaries of Mercy. The ball is in your court, your Eminences and Excellencies. Whoever it is who provides this presentation on our Lord’s mercy regarding the healing of abuse also by way of forgiveness, this is THE presentation of mercy that our people need so very desperately during this Jubilee Year of Mercy. The liberation of forgiveness and mercy is the way to go, the only way to go. This has been neglected the whole time, as if non-forgiveness were sacred, the new sacrament of our political correctness. We’ve forgotten Jesus in all this. We want Jesus! We want mercy! Let’s do this. Just make it happen. Make your cathedrals available for Jesus, for forgiveness, for mercy. Indeed, use your cathedrals for this, your cathedra, for this teaching on mercy for your people is one of the most important you will provide as shepherd of your flock.

Donald and I will have to think this out, but what immediately comes to mind is a Sunday afternoon and evening of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament with prayers of reparation and mercy, with the powerful testimony of Donald’s forgiveness of his abuser (all about Jesus!), along with some other testimony from a prisoner (all about Jesus!), as well as some words about how mercy works out in such situations from yours truly (all about Jesus!), along with, as circumstances permit, other guest speakers, even while the sacrament of reconciliation is provided throughout that time by however many priests are able to come, even while, if circumstances permit, counselors approved by whatever diocese also make themselves available for personal encounters which can deeply touch people’s lives. Mind you, not everyone who has been abused is Catholic. Then, a procession of the Blessed Sacrament around the church, Benediction and then Holy Mass.

Your Eminences and Excellencies. We will try to make this easy for you.

And to help ensure that this article gets into your hands, I’m asking my readers to print it out and give it personally to their Cardinals, Archbishops and bishops.

O.K. Now, if you dare, here are those ten videos of Donald’s testimony. Be prepared to meet Jesus. I started the first and let it roll through the rest, pacing about my little rectory, listening intently. Set aside some time to do the same, thinking about clearing the schedule of your Cathedral one Sunday afternoon and evening during this Year of Mercy, the sooner, the better. Don’t let it slip away…

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