I was struck after reading a story about a woman to whom our Lord appeared. She immediately conveyed this episode with her confessor.
The holy priest, skeptical about the event, wanted some proof that it was indeed Jesus and not some diabolic apparition or just her imagination.
“What proof do you need, Father?” she asked.
“The next time our Lord appears, ask Him what I said in my last confession,” the priest said.
When our Lord appeared again, the woman explained what the priest had instructed and asked our Lord what her confessor had said in his last confession.
“I forgot!” our Lord replied. (I can imagine Jesus scratching His head.)
This happy and consoling ending was something I never expected. But how true it is that God is more than ready to forgive and forget. Despite being all-powerful and all-knowing, we may with childish indulgence consider that God’s one “defect” is being forgetful about our sins.
What is so special about our forgiving Christian God?
Unlike man, He takes a further step in forgiving us of our sins: once forgiven, He totally forgets the sin and only expects from us a new love in response. This is a grace which He never takes back even though we may unfortunately fall again and again.
This may appear very strange to us. But for God, this is the most natural thing for Him to do. This is how great His love is. In fact, many of His parables represent Him as the ‘forgetful’ God.
For example, the father of the prodigal son does not ask about the inheritance his son had wasted. Or the master who simply forgave his servant of his huge debt of ten thousand talents. And how Jesus Himself forgave His disciples who abandoned Him during His Passion.
When Jesus was approached by adulterers, tax collectors, possessed persons and the sick, He was quick to either forgive or cure them. He knew the weight of sin, but placed more emphasis on the conversion and loving sorrow of the sinner.
Unlike God, man is not capable of totally forgetting his own sins and those committed against him by others. We are not computer hard drives that can be simply formatted and wiped clean. God knows this very well and fortunately never created us with a cold mechanical nature. So there must be a reason for our ‘not forgetting’ which God wants us to understand and grow in our love for Him and others.
What exactly does He want us to learn?
I believe through our weakness of ‘not forgetting’ He wants us to value remembrances. Our God is a God of remembrances. In fact, throughout the Old Testament and into the New, He has taught us how to remember His goodness and mercy in our history. He constantly established Covenants, feasts and celebrations to mark out His love for us. Finally, in the fullness of time, He Himself chose to live amongst us to seal the Covenant with His Birth, Death, Passion and Resurrection.
Moreover, did not our Lord instruct His disciples to do this in memory of me? And what did He want us to keep a living remembrance of? His Passion, Death and Resurrection that ultimately sealed His love for us, freeing us from the slavery of sin, the devil and death. If this were not the case, then our Lord could have said: do this in memory only of my Resurrection or Ascension. No!
Every time we celebrate or attend the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we bring to mind and heart our Lord’s sacrifice and benefit from its continuing fruits for mankind.
In asking us to do this, Jesus is constantly teaching us the right way of not to forgetting and is inviting us towards a greater transformation. We are reminded of what our sins can do if we choose to love ourselves, and also confirms God’s boundless love and mercy that are greater than what we have committed or has been done against us. Thus, we, too, upon remembering life’s trials and injustices ought to embrace God’s Will. Thus, our suffering will gradually give way to forgiveness and conversion.
Finally, it may be helpful, to use the word FORGET to remind us of being Frequently Open to Renewal/Repentance to God’s Enriching Trials. So when we find it hard to forget, let us remember that behind what may hurt or weigh us down, is a portal that leads to Jesus’ loving and merciful Heart. When we embrace it together with what oppresses us, then our sufferings will be turned into joy.
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