Lavish Forgiveness
The Lavish Forgiveness Rosary, With Meditations on the Passion of Christ
“Our citizenship is in Heaven,” Paul told the Philippians. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us! How can we be consistently merciful and forgiving until we understand that we are made for Heaven, not earth? God’s economy runs on Mercy, not money or status, or earthly power.
Jesus takes forgiveness absolutely seriously. In The Our Father there are two as-es. We ask for God’s Kingdom to be established on Earth as it is in Heaven. We’re asking God to forgive us, as we forgive others.
When someone offends me, and I refuse to forgive them, I’m saying, “I don’t want to inherit the Kingdom.” By putting myself in the place of Christ, and denying His grace for another. I have opted out of receiving Our Lord’s forgiveness for my own sins.
The absolute result is, my soul will not be ready to enter into Glory. The Lavish Forgiveness Rosary teaches us a different approach:
When someone sins against me, they’ve shown me what is lacking in the Body of Christ, for Christ is Head of us all. We are his Body. The offending party is showing me what may indeed be necessary for their sanctification. They’ve given me something to give to the Lord, and made me a potential intercessor for their salvation.
Lavish Forgiveness demands we think like Jesus. who opened Heaven for us through his passion and death, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”
Heaven doesn’t play with power struggles, like we do on earth. Heaven is all about unconditional love, and praising God. Let us desire the Kingdom enough to forgive others as He forgives us.
Each Hail Mary prayer in the Sorrowful Mysteries has a brief meditation on one of Christ’s sufferings. We join our sufferings with his, asking, “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing.” You can pray the whole rosary in about an hour, if you go slow with the meditations. On page two of this download are more ways to pray the devotion.
Please contact me if you have any questions or would like to tell me how these meditations have helped you become more forgiving.