St. Elizabeth Seton Parish Sun City recently issued the following announcement.

Have you ever experienced how the floodgates of grace open up when we honor the will of God and purposely decide to forgive? The French Dominican theologian Fr. Réginald Marie Garrigou-Lagrange, who once taught the future Pope John Paul II, in his great book Life Everlasting, tells us of the transformation of a Jewish man that he personally knew and who had the courage to forgive. He relates how: “I knew a young Jew, the son of an Austrian banker, in Vienna. 

He had decided on a lawsuit against the greatest adversary of his family, a lawsuit that would have enriched him and his family. He suddenly recalled this word of the Pater Noster (Our Father) which he had sometimes heard prayed: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” He said to himself: “How would it be if, instead of carrying on this lawsuit, I would pardon him?” He followed the inspiration, forgave completely, renounced the lawsuit. At that same moment he received the full gift of faith. This one word of the Our Father became his pathway up the mountain of life. He became a priest, a Dominican, and died at the age of fifty years. 

Though nothing particularly important appeared in the remainder of his life, his soul remained at the height where it had been elevated at the moment of his conversion. Step by step, he mounted to the eternal youth which is the life of heaven. The moral runs like this: one great act of self-sacrifice may decide not only our whole spiritual life on earth but also our eternity. We judge a chain of mountains by its highest peak.” In her diary, St. Faustina Kowalska tells us that we are most like God when we show mercy and forgiveness to others (Diary 1148). But,speaking, it is simply in our own best interest to forgive. Why would we want to harm our own spiritual progress by hardening our hearts and refusing mercy to others? Keep in mind that God is constantly sending us actual graces that give us the power, courage and desire to forgive. God is all-helpful: ask Him for the power to forgive. 

Next Sunday Is Catechetical Sunday The Church will celebrate Catechetical Sunday 2020 on September 20th under the theme of: “I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you.” On this day, our parish catechists are formally commissioned for ministry to the community. Catechetical Sunday is an opportunity to reflect on the role that each baptized person plays in handing on the faith and being a witness to the Gospel. Catechetical Sunday is an opportunity for all to rededicate themselves to this mission as a community of faith. 

Continuing Thursday of This Week: 

The Bible Timeline study program takes you on a guided journey through salvation history. Presenter Jeff Cavins will show us how 14 of the Bible’s narrative books tell the biblical history from beginning to end and give you the keys to understanding the amazing story woven throughout Scripture. In this revolutionary approach to Bible study, The Bible Timeline divides the Bible into twelve color-coded time periods that make it easier to follow its narrative thread.

Original source can be found here.