Three Goodnesses

Forgiveness given and forgiveness received are always the pure work of uncreated grace. Such unearned and undeserved forgiveness is necessary to break down the quid pro quo world that I call meritocracy. Only when we experience undeserved love does this inward and outward flow begin to happen. Before that, we are dry, dead cisterns. Before that, we... See more

Many of us pray the words of Jesus daily, with the Our Father. Midway through the prayer we say, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are in debt to us.”...

We glibly pray this at every Eucharist and often in our personal prayers. Yet, it calls on us without any glibness. All of us know intimately how hard it is to forgive someone who has ... See more

To disentangle this cultural confusion into a lucid and luminous understanding of forgiveness demands an uncommon largeness of spirit and depth of intellect, an uncommon breadth of erudition and historical knowledge, and an uncommon sensitivity to what it means to be human.