Sorry
Is all that you can’t say
Years gone by and still
Words don’t come easily
Like sorry like sorry
As a parting gift from school I received an Erica Grimm quadriptcyh based on the four key lines from the Lord’s Prayer. The photo above is a detail from the piece “Forgive us as We Forgive.” It shows us Pope John Paul II forgiving his attempted assassin Mehmet Ali Agca in his prison cell in Rome. That was a remarkable movement on the part of the pope, an image that captured the world’s attention for a while. Lewis Smedes is someone I keep going back to in order to be schooled in the art. “Forgiveness happens inside the person doing the forgiving. It heals our pain and resentment before it does anything for the person we forgive. They might never know about it.”
Desmond Tutu also writes powerfully from his South African experience. “When I develop a mindset of forgiveness, rather than a mindset of grievance, I don't just forgive a particular act; I become a more forgiving person. With a grievance mindset, I look at the world and see all that is wrong. When I have a forgiveness mindset, I start to see the world not through grievance but through gratitude. In other words, I look at the world and start to see what is right. There is a special kind of magic that happens when I become a more forgiving person -- it is something quite remarkable. What was once a grave affront melts into nothing more than a thoughtless or careless act. What was once a reason for rupture and alienation becomes an opportunity for repair and greater intimacy. A life that seemed littered with obstacles and antagonism is suddenly filled with opportunity and love.” (The Book of Forgiving Desmond Tutu & Mpho Tutu) Who better to teach us about forgiveness than Tutu?