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Showing posts with the label mercy and forgiveness

Forgiveness & Mercy -- NOT an Overnight Success

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Lying on his deathbed, Jane de Chantal’s husband forgave his cousin who had accidentally shot him while hunting. His young, devoted, heart-broken widow—now a single mother of four young children—was not as fast to reconcile. Jane approached forgiveness with great contemplation. A woman of deep faith, Jane knew that this task would not only take God’s grace to accomplish  but would also require time. At first, she could only greet the man on the street—slowly progressing to inviting him to their home. Jane eventually reached such peace in her relationship with this man that she became the godmother of one of his children. Forgiveness is a process. Sometimes a very long, arduous one but with God's grace it is possible to forgive even in the most difficult of circumstances. As St. Jane experienced herself... READ MORE All Rights Reserved, Allison Gingras 2016 *First appeared in  7 Qualities of Mercy  --   Light Along the Way.

Finger-pointing: The “Sins” of Pope Francis

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I  am appalled  by commentators  and writers who quickly denounce Pope Francis, often  misinterpreting or twisting  the meaning of his comments by taking them out of context.  These critics are acting like the ‘ the accuser of our brethren… which accused them before our God day and night’.     [Revelation 12:7-12]    They   seem poised, ready to  pounce on any hint of  his supposed sin against tradition. Pope Francis’ detractors  condemn him as a modernist heretic who is selling out to secular opinion by refusing to stand up for traditional  Roman Catholic Church teachings. The pope’s critics seem determined to over throw this Spirit-filled man of God.  I am truly baffled. What are these self proclaimed champions of religious purity doing? The most important point in this whole issue is that Jesus never commanded his followers to go around pointing out sin, faults, shortcomings or failures of others, never mind tearing down the pope.  The only role that pointing out sin