LETTING GO OF HURTS!

Beloved Friends and Colleagues!

Our brief reflection today is on letting go of hurts! Each of us is a social being. We live in communities and among our neighbours.  No one is an isolated monad. Our actions and inaction

have their impacts on others. The goods we do and the goods we omit are of consequence to others. Consequently, we may have hurt one or the other of our society in one way or another. We too may have been hurt by others. Such that no one among us is without one form of hurt or the other. Suffering from injuries and hurts from our friends and or siblings and colleagues belongs to the order of our day. We are either victims or perpetrators of hurts and injuries.  How then do we deal with the hurt we have suffered from others? How do we go about the injuries and hurts others have caused us, with our names, reputations, resources, good intentions and sacrifices we have made for them, blackmail we have suffered on their behalf, and so on and so forth?

Is it possible to let go of the injuries and hurts we are suffering from, or we have suffered from? Is it possible to forgive those who have caused us such great hurts and injuries, especially to our reputations and public image on account of our encounter with them? Is there any way the harm they have done to us could ever be wished away and blotted out of memory? If these injuries would be remembered, is it possible to forgive a hurt that lingers in our memories especially if we meet the one who has caused us such a great hurt? Is forgiveness ever possible? Or is it just a mode of speech? Can anybody really forgive?

Yes, there is a way to deal with hurts and injuries.  They are the heroic ways of forgiveness and love. Forgiveness is possible and doable. It is a strength and not a weakness Whoever is able to forgive is great. It is the greatness of character to forgive hurts done to us. Forgiveness has two dimensions, namely the forgiveness of those who have done us evil against us and the forgiveness we do to ourselves when we have fallen short of our ideal. Sometimes we find it difficult to forgive ourselves of the wrongs we have done and we continuously die in silence. You can imagine, how one would be able to forgive others if one finds it difficult to forgive oneself of the omissions or commissions one has done against the self.  The first step is to forgive the self for all the wrongs one thinks one has done against oneself. And then one would find it easier to forgive others for the hurts they have caused one.

Finally, whoever is not able to forgive and let go, is in prison. One is a prisoner, who is unable to let go of the hurts and injuries done to him or her. Therefore, to be able to live as free and happy beings, one must let go of the hurts of others. When one forgives others, one begins to live in freedom and authenticity. Let us not carry along the hurts of past years and blur the brightness of our lives today. The sunset said the Psalmist must not find you angry. And God does not keep a record of our failings.

Shalom