Mother Teresa told this story: "I once picked up a woman from a garbage dump and she was burning with fever; she was in her last days and her only lament was: ‘My son did this to me.’ I begged her: You must forgive your son. In a moment of madness, when he was not himself, he did a thing he regrets. Be a mother to him, forgive him. It took me a long time to make her say: ‘I forgive my son.’ Just before she died in my arms, she was able to say that with a real forgiveness. She was not concerned that she was dying. The breaking of the heart was that her son did not want her. This is something you and I can understand."
There is a great brokenness inflicted on those who reject their loved ones and those who have been rejected. That is the kind of struggle and hurt we deal with on a daily basis. It is not about judgment, but as M. Teresa shows us, it is about encouraging the healing of this hurt as much as possible. We are not going to help anyone by pointing fingers and casting blame, only by hoping in forgiveness for acts committed by persons who were acting "not themselves" and as such have turned themselves into victims as well.
No comments:
Post a Comment