Friday, July 26, 2013

Forgive, and be forgiven


+  RWS 557 July 28, 2013
17th Sunday in Ordinary Time


Gospel: Luke 11: 1-13
4 “… and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test."

Forgiving
By Bishop Precioso D. Cantillas, SDB, DD

Asking forgiveness and forgiving are essential parts of our life as mortals. Jesus, our Savior, taught us to ask the Father to forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. In our relationship with God and others, then, we need to humble ourselves and implore the Almighty for His mercy on us; likewise, we also need to stoop down to those who may have wronged us, and offer our forgiving hands to them. Having and nurturing this forgiving attitude then is necessary in our life. I think that our experience in work and at work, teaches us how to ask forgiveness and to be forgiving to others.
While reason tells us that we need to work in order to eat, faith in God makes us accept the burden of having to work as expiation for our sins; as our share in the redemptive work of Christ, who suffered and died on the cross in obedience to the will of the Father to save us. The worker then, who believes, will approach his work as part of his plea for God’s mercy on him. Keeping such humble attitude before God as the worker goes to work, will impact greatly and positively on the performance of the worker at his job. Expectedly, the worker will do his best to make his work as a convincing proof of his sorrow for sins and his desire to be at peace with God. Work then, gives the worker a great opportunity to merit God’s favor and mercy. Consequently, the worker will find it easy to ask his boss or his co-workers forgiveness if and when he causes them wrong.
Work and all its punishing demands somehow inflicts on us some hurts, which we need to “forgive”. We can complain and be forever unwelcoming of work and the hardships it imposes on us. But, such negative attitude towards work will not help us and keep us healthy. We need to be kind and forgiving to our work, co-workers, and even our bosses, if we want to enjoy the goodness and happiness in life which God our Father has gifted us with.

The root of hurt feelings
By Teresa R. Tunay, OCDS

Even workplaces populated by the most educated, intelligent, or polite people are prone to squabbles every now and then.  There are misunderstandings, personality clashes, conflicts in ideas or priorities, differing perceptions, wrong assumptions—which more often than not lead to hurt feelings.  When these clashes result in stalemate, they slow down work.  To turn things around it is important for those involved (and everybody in general) to realize that these conflicts are some of the very challenges that bring out the best in us, compelling us to think out of our own personal box and to view things with a truly open mind.
There is a way to overcome hurt feelings, and that is by tracing their roots and seeing them for what they are.  In the very core of things you’ll see that hurt feelings stem from an inordinate self-esteem that makes you feel you are the best and cannot ever be wrong; thus you are hurt when circumstances point to the contrary.  The situation worsens when the other person (your “enemy”) has a self-esteem that’s just as misplaced as yours.  Then nobody wants to give way—it becomes a power play where the most important thing for the playors are their hurt feelings and their pride, not the work they are supposed to do together.
The workplace is an intimate community where everybody is expected to be a team player in order that the company’s goals may be reached—bearing a grudge has no place here.  We Filipinos like to think we are a prayerful people—look how we display our piety even in our workplaces.  But if we find it beneath us to forgive or ask to be forgiven by a coworker, so that our shared work may be smoothly accomplished, then face it: we are merely praying the Our Father with our mouths, not with our hearts.