Source: https://greekdownloads.wordpress.com/2023/10/30/
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"Forgive,
and you shall be forgiven. We must forgive with all our heart. The Lord closed the Parable of the two debtors with the following words: "Thus will my heavenly Father do to you, if you do not forgive each of your brothers their trespasses, from your hearts" (Matthew 2:35). It seems obvious that what is required of us is only a small thing: “forgive, and be forgiven” (by God).
When you forgive, you become receptive of mercy. And when you
become receptive of mercy, you become partakers of all the treasures
of mercy: Salvation,
Paradise and Eternal Bliss.
What a maximum gain for so small a sacrifice as forgiveness!
Indeed,
it is a small sacrifice; but - thanks to our self-love - nothing can
be so difficult as to forgive.
We might forgive
some unintended annoyance done to us privately, without anyone else
knowing about it; but if the insult is somewhat more sensitive and
is done in public, then we don't forgive easily.
There are times
when - whether you like it or not - you cannot express your
displeasure and you remain silent. But it is only your tongue that
remained silent. In the meantime, your heart talks to you, begetting
cunning plans. If you happen to take the offense a bit more
seriously and the situation becomes unbridled, it will escalate out
of control.
Neither shame, nor fear, or loss or anything else can hold you
back. Your egotism has reached its limits and it renders one crazy.
And
should that person surrender to his insanity, he will speak
paranoically. People who are subject to this unfortunate condition
are not like ordinary people. The more civil one is, the more sensitive one becomes to insults, but also more unwilling to forgive; relations will continue to be smooth superficially, but internally there will be discord.
And yet - the Lord asks us to forgive,
with all our heart.
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