March 10
Wednesday of the third Week of Lent
Paige Byrne Shortal
God Loves us No Matter What
Lent for Families 2010

The Cycle of Forgiveness

My child said the words every mother longs to hear:  "I never knew being a parent would be so hard."  Oh yeah, it's hard.  I told my daughter-in-law that becoming a mother is the  first step toward forgiving you own mother.  Whatever her faults and failings and slights and weaknesses, you are here and so she must have at least birthed you or gone through the rigorous process of adoption, which is enormously more than most of us do for anyone ever. And if the relationship survives at all beyond infancy, there are more sacrificial acts in one day for this little person that any childless saint ever dreams of.

If becoming a mother is a step towards forgiving one's own mother, becoming a grandmother is a step toward forgiving oneself.  Because whatever my faults and failings and slights and weaknesses as a mother, here in my arms is this perfect little person, brought into this world by the one I lost sleep over, and so I must have done something right.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, you ask us to do something very difficult, but you wouldn't  ask us to do the impossible, so please, give us the grace we need, to forgive those we love the most. Amen.

Reflection
Another way to think about "giving up" something for lent other than food
is to think about giving up grudges,
 hurts,
 troublesome memoriesand things we remember that disturbs us and we don't even remember why.
Instead of thinking about "giving up."  How about thinking of "forgiving."