In the Sept. 13 bulletin, the Rev. Kilian McCaffrey of St. Elizabeth Seton Roman Catholic Church in Sun City issued the challenge of honoring the will of God by deciding to forgive.

He recounted French Dominican theologian Fr. Réginald Marie Garrigou-Lagrange's story of a young Jewish man who, after recalling the words of the Our Father, decided to forgive a debt and cancel a lawsuit against a great adversary, a debt that if fulfilled would have brought great wealth to him and his family. It is said that at the moment he decided to forgive he received the gift of faith.

The young Jew later became a priest and a Dominican. The demonstration of faith in his life was credited to the moment he had chosen to forgive.

"One great act of self-sacrifice may decide not only our whole spiritual life on earth but also our eternity," McCaffrey quoted Garrigou-Lagrange's book Life Everlasting. "We judge a chain of mountains by its highest peak.”

McCaffery further noted that there is no use in harming spiritual progress by harboring bitterness and refusing to forgive. God does indeed provide grace to forgive; it merely has to be asked for.