The quote comes from Charlie Chaplin. Read any outline or biography and you find a journey of loss and pain.
Looking back in 2002, I note that I had lunch with two students. When one went to the washroom, the other burst into tears saying God can't forgive me. Of course she was wrong but where was that coming from? Now 5 years on, I think my current reading in discernment has made me realize we don't get enough teaching on evil, the enemy, and temptation.
Around the same time in 2002 I was reading this in Don Postema's Space for God. A desert father, "Abba Mios was asked by a soldier whether God would forgive a sinner. After instructing him at some length, the old man asked him: Tell me ... if your cloak were torn, would you throw it away? Oh, No! he replied, I would mend it and wear it again. The old man said to him, Well if you care for your cloak, will God show mercy to his creature?" Sadly in the 21st century the truth is lost because we tend to throw things away rather than repair and restore them to use. But we are worth something to God and worthy of repair and restoration, even though our cultural messages are the opposite. The assertion there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain and the cry "I am making everything new" has a reality in the here and now, which in pain and suffering produces perseverance, which in turn brings character, which in turn, hope and "hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit."
You may not recognize Charles Chaplin the great silent movie actor. This picture comes from the cover of some music composed by him part of a failed music publishing venture. Fortunately even though the publishing company failed his compositions continued and his music score to Lamplight won a bittersweet Academy award albeit a decade after its initial release.
Forgiveness is not something to be treated lightly or treated cheaply. A couple, colleagues from Edmonton made a presentation of forgiveness which touched me deeply. Alas Brian is no longer with us but because of his endurance through his protracted illness I can remember him in this quotation from David Stoop.
- A third misconception about forgiveness is that it is a quick, simple process. Genuine forgiveness [takes time; it is] something deep and powerful.
- And a fourth misconception about forgiveness is that in order to forgive, we must forget. If we still retain the memory of what was done to us, we think, we have not truly forgiven. In fact, just the opposite is true: To forgive is to remember. That is because forgiveness is not just a one-time action on our part; it is usually something that we must choose to do over and over again. If we are to continue to forgive, we must continue to remember.
