Forgiving one’s enemies is to ask forgiveness for oneself; forgiving one’s friends is to give them proof of friendship; forgiving offenses is to show that one has become better. Therefore, my friends, forgive so that God may forgive you, for if you are hard, demanding and inflexible, if you are severe toward even a minor offense, how can you expect God to forget that every day you are in ever greater need of indulgence? Oh! Woe to those who say, “I shall never forgive,” because they speak their own condemnation. Moreover, who knows if looking deep down inside you might not discover that you yourself were the aggressor? Who knows if in the fight that begins as a pinprick and ends up as a rupture you did not throw the first punch? If an offensive word did not escape you? If you used all the moderation necessary? Of course, your adversary erred in demonstrating excessive susceptibility,  but that is a reason for you to be indulgent so that you do not deserve the reproach directed at you. Let us assume that you truly were offended in a particular instance. Who could say that you have not poisoned the matter with reprisal and that you have not let what could have been easily forgotten  degenerate into a serious quarrel? If it depended on you to prevent the outcome but you did not, you are blameworthy. Finally, let us assume that you have absolutely nothing to be blamed for; in that case, you will have even greater merit if you show clemency.

However, there are two quite different manners of forgiving: there is forgiveness from the lips and forgiveness from the heart. Many say to their adversaries, “I forgive you,” while inwardly they feel a secret pleasure when ills befall them, and they tell themselves that they got only what they deserved. How many say, “I forgive,” and then add, “but I’ll never reconcile; I never want to see that person again for the rest of my life.” Is that forgiveness according to the Gospel? No. True forgiveness – Christian forgiveness – is the kind that casts a veil over the past. It is the only kind that will be credited to you, for God is not satisfied with appearances. God probes the depths of the heart and the most secret thoughts. No one deceives him with words and  futile façades. The  complete and  absolute forgetting of offenses is proper of great souls; rancor is always a sign of low- mindedness and inferiority. Do not forget that true forgiveness is recognized by actions much more than by words.

Paul, Apostle (Lyon, 1861)