Meditation & Mental Prayer: Catholics Talking To God.
Meditation & Mental Prayer: Catholics Talking To God.
How to Forgive Your Enemies - Meditation on Matthew 18 v 23 -29
What if the key to unlocking true peace lies in our ability to forgive? In this episode, we promise to guide you through a transformative meditation that reveals the profound power of forgiveness and unconditional love. Drawing inspiration from the parable of the Wicked Servant in Matthew 18, we journey to the very gates of heaven, where the overwhelming light of God's presence calls us to reflect on our own struggles with forgiveness. We'll explore how embracing the concept of "seventy times seven" can reshape our spiritual paths, allowing us to embody the boundless compassion and mercy that mirrors divine justice.
Join us as we unpack the essence of our spiritual journey and the role forgiveness plays in aligning us with God's immense love. Through a meditative narrative, we'll confront the magnitude of our own sins and the necessary mercy needed to transcend them. By forgiving those who have wronged us, we're not only clearing our own path to heaven but also manifesting the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Experience how a heart transformed by forgiveness can create a space for divine love and justice in everyday life, reminding us that true peace and spiritual fulfillment are within reach when we open ourselves to God's endless mercy.
Meditation, surround yourself with the knowledge that God is in all things and through all things, but, more importantly really, that he is seated on his throne in heaven. Imagine yourself now outside the courts of heaven. You're standing in the hallway facing great, majestic doors, and these doors are closed. Suddenly, the doors fly open and the majesty of God bursts into the hallway. As the living rays of almighty God hit you, the staggering pain knocks you to the floor. Your angel guardian comes and helps you into another room, away from the piercing light that is causing you so much pain. He reminds you how often he causing you so much pain. He reminds you how often he encouraged you to forgive others. He even showed you how Remember. Remember how he showed you that when long forgotten insults arose in your mind, he showed you how to imagine standing behind the cross of our Lord in Calvary and from behind that cross, you had to see your enemy standing with Our Lady at the foot of the cross. You were to say to those people I forgive you in Jesus' name, and in Jesus' name you are forgiven. You were to pray for them to come to love Jesus. You were to request of Jesus that your enemy became more holy than you, as long as you became as holy as God wanted you to be. And so often you did not.
Speaker 1:The Wicked Servant Read Matthew, chapter 18, verses 23 to 25. Therefore, is the kingdom of heaven like to a king who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him that owed him ten thousand talents, and as he had not the wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. But that servant, falling down, besought him, saying have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And the lord of that servant, being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt. But when that servant was gone out he found one of his fellow-servants that owed him a hundred pence and, laying hold of him, throttled him, saying Pay what thou owest. And his fellow-servants, falling down, besought him, saying have patience with me and I will pay thee all. And he would not, but went and cast him into prison till he paid the debt. Now his fellow-servants, seeing what was done, were very much grieved and they came and told their lord all that was done when his lord called him and said to him Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the death because thou besoughtest me. Shouldn't you not have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee, and his lord, being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt? So also shall my heavenly father do to you if you forgive not every one of your brothers from your heart.
Speaker 1:So this parable was told by Jesus, really, in answer to Peter's inquiry how often should I forgive? My brother Peter had been taught, obviously, to forgive seven times, but Jesus said to him that he must forgive not only seven times, but seventy times seven. So Jesus said to him I say not to thee till seven times, but till seventy times seven. In other words, unconditional love. We call it today unconditional love. We go on forgiving and forgiving, no matter what.
Speaker 1:In meditation, put yourself in the place of this servant who owes Almighty God 10,000 talents. This is because you have broken his laws so often. Your sins have worked against the kingdom of God and God's holy will being carried out here on earth. If you went out at the beginning of the day with the intention of breaking as many of your country's laws as possible. Imagine the consequences of that. Think of criminals who are imprisoned for many years, how they lose their homes and often their family, who move on with their lives without them.
Speaker 1:This will help you understand the fearful justice of Almighty God, as Jesus explained it in this parable. Your debt for sin and for the punishment due to you is greater than you can understand. Did you know that the very least sin is so great before the power and justice and light and truth of Almighty God is so great that all the saints could not pay for it with all their prayers and good works? For God hates the least venial sin more than he loves the homage of all his creatures. The debt of punishment also, that's so great that no one can ever understand it except those who are actually paying it, and that even to the last farthing. Remember how Jesus warned that we would not get out till we paid the last penny.
Speaker 1:Now how shall we apply this to our own life and to our journey back home to Almighty God? Well, let's begin with God's love for us and his great desire for us to be with him in heaven. And here's your meditation Surround yourself with the knowledge that God is in all things and through all things, but more importantly really, that he is seated on his throne in heaven. Imagine yourself now outside the courts of heaven. You're standing in the hallway facing great, majestic doors, and these doors are closed. Suddenly, the doors fly open and the majesty of God bursts into the hallway. As the living rays of Almighty God hit you, the staggering pain knocks you to the floor.
Speaker 1:Your angel guardian comes and helps you into another room, away from the piercing light that is causing you so much pain. He reminds you how often he encouraged you to forgive others. He even showed you how Remember. Remember how he showed you that when long forgotten insults arose in your mind, he showed you how to imagine standing behind the cross of our Lord in Calvary and from behind that cross you had to see your enemy standing with our lady at the foot of the cross. You were to say to those people I forgive you in Jesus' name and in Jesus' name you are forgiven. You were to pray for them to come to love Jesus. You were to request of Jesus that your enemy became more holy than you as long as you became as holy as God wanted you to be. And so often you did not. Your debts to God are so great you have made yourself his enemy.
Speaker 1:The reason you have been allowed this far in the great halls is because Jesus Christ died for you. Jesus paid the great price. God has forgiven you because you asked him to. You thought you had done lots of penance for your sins, so why are you suffering such agonising pain and cannot even step back into the light coming from the throne room of heaven? Only you can answer that, and that is the kingdom of heaven that God wants us to bring on earth now. This is really frightening peace, this parable, because it tells us straight that whenever we say in the our father, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, if we flipped it round just a little, we'd understand much quicker If we said instead as we forgive those who trespass against us, you forgive us the same way. Oh dear, that's what it means, and that's the terrifying thing.