Resentment and Forgiveness (Part II)

My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,
CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

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RESENTMENT AND FORGIVENESS (Part II)
By Hieromonk Damascene

On Forgiveness

Having looked at the malady of anger, judgment, and resentment, let's go look at the cure. What are we to do to be freed of this sickness?

Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us clearly: "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. And to him who smites you on the one cheek, offer the other" (Luke 6:27-29).

Rather than resenting those who wrong us, we are to love them, and we express this love by blessing them and praying for them. We do this because we are commanded to do so by Christ. He has commanded this for our own sake, for our own salvation, because He loves us; and we do it for His sake because we love Him. Our fallen nature rebels against this "What? Bless and pray for that person who wronged me? But for Christ's sake, we go against our fallen nature and force ourselves to pray. We ask God to bless and have mercy on the person who hurts us, we according to the words of Christ, "is kind to the unthankful and the evil" (Luke 6:35). In going against our fallen nature, we return to our original nature--the image of God in us--and we grow in the likeness of God.

Abba (Father) Dorotheos, a Desert Father of the 6th century, says that we can be healed of the sickness of resentment "by prayer right from the heart for the one who has annoyed us. We can pray such words as 'O God help my brother and me through his prayers' "In this," says Abba (Father) Dorotheos, "we are interceding for our brother, which is a sure sign of sympathy and love, and we are humiliating ourselves by asking help through our brother's prayers.

When we continually force ourselves to bless and pray for others in this way, we will find that our Lord Jesus Christ will change, renew, and refresh our hearts. It may take some time and persistence, but gradually, almost imperceptibly, we will be changed. The poison of resentment, by the Grace of Christ, will leave our system.

Again our Lord has told us: "Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven" (Luke 6:37).

The cure for anger, judgment, and resentment is forgiveness, pure and simple. No matter what terrible affliction and unspeakable injustices have befallen, we can be free of their negative effects on us through forgiveness.

I once asked a Romanian Orthodox priest named Father George Calciu about this. For twenty-one years he had been locked in Communist prisons, where he had endured the most unimaginable horrors ever perpetrated by human beings. And yet when I met him here in America, he was happy, joyful, like a child, totally free of any negative effects of this torture on his soul. He had found the secret of forgiveness. I asked him, "How can people overcome judgment?" He looked at me, almost with astonishment, and answered, "It's simple. Just don't judge!"

It's truly simple. But we must keep in mind that we can't do it on our own: We need God's help to heal our fallen, wounded nature, to humble our pride. Therefore, as we pray for those who have hurt us, we should pray that God will help us to forgive, that He will soften our hard hearts, warm our cold hearts, and grant us a loving, merciful, and forgiving spirit.

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!" -- Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+Father George