Henri Nouwen: We Who Love Poorly Need Forgiveness
“Forgiveness is the name of love practiced among people who love poorly. The hard truth is that all people love poorly. We need to forgive and be forgiven every day, every hour increasingly. That is the great work of love among the fellowship of the weak that is the human family.” Henri Nouwen in You Are the Beloved (Convergent Books 2017)
National Cathedral. Chapel of Good Shepherd
Nouwen reminds us it is our imperfections that lead us to the need to seek forgiveness. We ask for forgiveness to God, our family, our friends, and especially our enemies for harm we have done to them. All of this involves breaking out of the mask we wear that we do no harm, that we are faithful Christians or Muslims or Jews. The thicker the mask, the harder it is to take off. But eventually there are too many layers, and it cracks, and our life, our persona, seems to come apart.
The crack, however, according to Leonard Cohen’s poem, is where “the light gets in,” where God really comes back into our lives. When this happens, we have a choice. We can be overwhelmed by what we see and survive by going back into denial. Or we have a moment of clarity and decide to change. We start asking for forgiveness. We start with the easier ones first and gradually give in to the harder ones. It also is not a onetime process, but an everyday spiritual practice.
One more lagniappe, or a little something extra, as the Cajuns say. The more we see the harm we have done and ask for forgiveness, the easier it is to forgive others for harms done to us. We begin to see how they became that way. We see how alike we are, rather than our differences.
Our arteries become less constricted. Our blood pressure comes down. Our heart rate slows. We see the miracle of each day as we live in the present moment gently, contently held in the Good Shepherd’s arms of love rather than living in the past or future. The present moment is where our God lives.
Joanna. joannaseibert.com
Coming Soon!!
A Daily Spiritual Rx for Ordinary Time: Readings from Pentecost to Advent
This completes the trilogy of
A Daily Spiritual Rx for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. And
A Daily Spiritual Rx for Lent and Easter
Offering readings for the entire year.