These days, following the instruction from the Vicar General, I visit Deacon Tsang's catechumen class after attending Sunday Mass in the morning. Deacon Tsang is the Spiritual Director for my deacon formation. Though we serve in the same parish, we are busy with what we are doing and seldom meet. Therefore, participating in his catechumen class is a golden opportunity for me to receive the Deacon's spiritual direction. Of course he is the main speaker in the class. But he allows me to chip in anytime I feel like contributing my knowledge of the Bible and my passion for hymn singing.
In between the Mass and the Catechumen class, I visited the St. Ambrose Choir which I have to leave behind because I have to attend Deacon's class. They were doing spiritual sharing today. These young people always take an activity approach. They would begin with a simple game and share their feelings afterward. Indeed, they need more trainings in biblical formation. Anyway, when they finished I did some revision of biblical knowledge with them. First of all, today is the Feast of Pentecost. The Church celebrates the Descent of the Holy Spirit. So, the first question I asked them was naturally the "Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit" and where in the Bible they came from.
Answer: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, 【Piety】 and Fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2-3a).
In 2006, under the direction of Fr. Baptista S.J., John Fok and I wrote an article on "The Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit" to deal with the translation problems of this verse. The understanding of our faith must be based on the Bible. Therefore, we cannot afford to ignore the translation problems in the Bible.
My second question was a bit naughty. I said that since the theology of "the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit" is based on the Old Testament, we need to know what the New Testament says. So, look up Paul's letter to the Galatians to locate the "Fruits of the Holy Spirit". It did not take long for them to locate them. Here they are:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, 【longanimity, mildness】, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control, 【chastity】 (Galatians 5:22-23a).
Some manuscripts / translations have nine while others have twelve. Again, we should be aware of the translation problems found in these passages.
Back to Deacon's class. He talked about the Pentecost on this Feast. Besides reading from Acts 2, he also read from today's gospel. He focussed on the following two verses in particular and told us to practise group discussion with these two verses.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained;" (John 20:22-23)
Deacon Tsang frequently contrasts the Catholic Tradition with those of Protestants'. For example, Catholics believe in the presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist while Protestants believe that the Holy Eucharist is only a remembrance. For Protestants, Jesus does not reside in the bread. Catholics confess their sins to the priests to obtain forgiveness while Protestants believe that it is enough to confess to God to obtain forgiveness. There is no need of a middle man who, as a mere man, cannot forgive sins etc. Catholics would quote the above verses to defend their position. Catholics are following the commands of Jesus.
The sacrament of Reconciliation is a service rendered the believers. Catholic priests themselves need confessions as much as the laity. Sins are not just offences against God, but also offences against the Church. The priests need to provide this reconciliation service to bring sinners back to the Church. The service has been handed down right from the apostles who received this reconciliation mission from the Lord in the reading today.
In our group discussion, all the members came to the consensus that to forgive is good for ourselves. However, there are people whom we could not hope to do anything even if they hurt you or your dignity. For example, your boss. What can we do but to submit and swallow our pride? Here, forgiveness is not involved.
If your brothers do not offend you on purpose or even do not know that they have hurt you, what do you gain if you hate and curse them? Try to communicate your frustration. But before that, forgive them first. If they know they have done you wrong, I am sure they will apologize. You don't wait until they apologize to forgive. The earlier, the more comfortable you will be.
If your brothers offend you on purpose to make you angry, not forgiving and continuing to be bitter serves your "enemies" well because you react according to their intention. What's more, it hurts more to be betrayed by people closest to your heart. The best strategy is to forgive and forget so as not to torture yourselves with resentments. Hopefully, with God's grace, your brothers will learn their faults, repent and reconcile. Even if they don't, you have already released yourself with forgiveness.
At the end of the day, nothing can happen without God's consent. Nobody can hurt you without God's consent. Therefore, take every offence as a trial from God, as an opportunity to upgrade your EQ, a step forward to sainthood.
Dear Lord, help us forgive, not just seventy seven times. We need Your forgiveness. Amen.
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