Brian’s Reflection: Friday, Oct 31, 2009

[ La Dia de los Muertos ]

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.

- Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India.
She was assassinated on this date, 1984,
by trusted Sikh bodyguards.


You never know, do you. The World is full of Politics, Disgruntled People, Fanaticism, Tribalism, Grudges, Religion, etc. One chooses one’s friends, one’s allies, etc - but you never know what hides in their hearts, what motivates their later actions. Can you imagine being a “suicide bomber”? I can’t.

I think Mrs. Gandhi is insightful. As I look back over my own Life, I have “known” by what I was taught as a Christian and as a monk and as a priest that Forgiveness is critical first in order to free oneself from the power of anger or hate, to have the gate opened to Love and to “redemption”. But it IS hard! Christianity tries to provide a path to that freedom, through “confession and absolution” – but most of us are not “brave”. We draw back from confronting our own willingness to harbour hateful or angry thoughts/behaviour. We reject the insight of dear friends or spiritual advisors. We continue to think that, if we are “revealed” as people subject to “the doers of sin and death”, we are somehow diminished.

Crap.

We all must learn to look at ourselves with unflinching honesty. It is the only path to Freedom; the only path to growth and peace and the deepening of our Humanity.

Time to be Brave.

Brian+