Forgiveness, to Forgive

See also: Mercy, merciful, Repentance, Remorse, Reconcile, Reconciliation, Confession, Absolution.

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Stained glass of the prodigal son returning to his father - CHS Cathedral.

"Then Peter stepped forward and asked him, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus answered, 'I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'"

In "The Gospel as It Was Revealed to Me"

God's Forgiveness

• Mary speaking about Zacharias: To one who recognizes their fault and repents and humbly accuses themselves with a sincere Heart, God forgives. He does not only forgive: He rewards.
• God forgives not once, but ten times ten, thousands and ten thousands of times. He forgives, and this is proven by the fact that there are still men on the earth.
• I tell you, even after the worst offense, if the guilty runs to the feet of the Father — He is called Father for this reason, oh Judas, He is a Father of infinite perfection — if, weeping, begging Him to forgive, he offers himself to atonement without despair, the Father would give him the means to atone so that he deserves forgiveness and saves his spirit.
• Only the Most Good can forgive what man does not forgive.
• God is mercy because God is Love.
• I will forgive as I have always forgiven. Everyone. For my part, everyone.
• Judas, there is no fault I do not forgive if the repentant culprit tells me: "Jesus, I have sinned." Even less: if he only says: "Jesus!". Even less: if he only looks at me, begging.
• Oh! If God had to forgive only those who ask Him.
• Repentance is a form of love. One who repents says to God by his repentance: "I cannot remain under the threat of your wrath, because I love you and want to be loved".
• There is no sin God does not forgive if the sinner is truly repentant.
• Even the grief for a mistake committed, which afflicts you because by this mistake you displeased God, must be peaceful, comforted by humility and trust. Self-reproach and self-hatred are always signs of Pride, and thus also of distrust.
  
  If someone is humble, he knows he is a poor man subject to the miseries of the flesh which sometimes triumphs. If someone is humble, he trusts not so much in himself as in God and remains calm, even in defeats, saying: "Forgive me, Father. I know You know my weakness which sometimes prevails. I believe You have pity on me. I firmly trust that You will help me in the future even more than before, Good that I give You so little satisfaction".
  And be neither indifferent nor stingy with the Goods of God. Give of what you have in terms of wisdom and virtue. Be active in spiritual matters as men are for matters of the flesh.   
• Your crime is great. You have much to repair. But I, Mercy, tell you that even if you were the devil himself and carried on you all the crimes of the Earth, if you want to, you can repair everything and be forgiven by God, by the true, great and paternal God. If you want. Unite your will to mine. I also want you to be forgiven. Unite with Me.
• Remember (Peter) above all, in all cases, before condemning, that you too were once a man and that your Master, whom no one ever found in a sinful state, never condemned anyone who repented of having sinned.

Forgiveness among men

• But in the wound there are two points that make you suffer. One is the undeniable offense you received from your daughter. The other is the effort you make to refuse her your love. At least remove this last one. Forgiveness, which is the highest form of love, will make it disappear.
• Forgive as I forgive.
• Forgiveness! The dew on the burn of the guilty.
• The 12 works of corporal and spiritual mercy: Forgive those who offend you.
• Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times? and
• Forgive him seventy-seven times. and
• Forgiveness is love of The Spirit, refusal of vengeance is love of The Spirit.
• Forgiveness changes life for the one who forgives.
• Forgive seventy-seven times, and even seventy times seventy, the sins of your brothers and your children. Because closing the doors of Salvation to a sick person just because he has fallen again into his sickness is wanting to kill him. (recall of Matthew 18:21-22) and

In other works by Maria Valtorta

The Notebooks of 1943

• Catechesis of June 5: “You would like me to come and show myself to terrorize the guilty and reduce them to ashes. Oh! Wretched! You do not know what you ask! […] No, children who ask for vengeance from the Father when He is the Father of forgiveness! Even if my Face shone in the heavens and my voice, which made the worlds, thundered from East to West, things would not change. Only a new blasphemous chorus, only a new flood of insults would be hurled against me. I repeat: I could do a miracle and I would if I knew that afterward you would repent and become better.
• Catechesis of June 7: Maria, you who say that from your Heart thoughts of forgiveness could not spontaneously come because your human nature inspires a spirit of vengeance and that you only know forgiveness out of regard for me, have you ever thought that it was this spirit of vengeance that ruined you, children of Adam, and that sent me, Son of God, to the cross?
• Catechesis of June 8: "Come, do not reject my hand which seeks to draw you to me. Do you think I cannot forgive you? Oh! I would have forgiven even Judas if, instead of fleeing, he had come under the cross where I was dying and said to me: ‘Forgive!’. He would have been the first to be redeemed because he was the greatest sinner, and I would have poured out on him the Blood of my Heart, pierced not by the spear, but by his betrayal and by yours".

In foundational Christian texts

In the Bible

• "They refused to listen and did not remember the miracles you performed among them; they stiffened their neck and in their rebellion they appointed a leader to return to their slavery. But you, Lord, are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in steadfast love; you did not forsake them".
• "Bless the Lord, O my Soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases."
• "If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared."
• "You have wearied me with your sins. I will blot out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins."
• "Once again he will have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
• "You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust."
• "Then Peter came up and said to him, 'Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother who sins against me? Up to seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.'"
• "Therefore, my brothers, you should know that through him the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from under the law of Moses."
• "Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."
• "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church

• During the annual feast of Atonement the children of Israel ask God for forgiveness for their transgressions of the Law.
• "I believe in the forgiveness of sins."
• The sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.
• "Forgive us our offenses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."