Forgiveness
On April 9, 1968 -- the day of Martin Luther King`s funeral -- a white bus driver named Martin Whitted was pulled out of his bus in San Francisco by eleven black youths who savagely beat him and left him mortally wounded. He died shortly thereafter. Tension rose in the black and white communities. Rumors of violence began to spread. Then Dixie Whitted, the bus driver`s widow, appeared on television. Her reaction to her husband`s murder was something moving, something extraordinary, something not of this world. Quietly she spoke of her love for her husband and her faith in Christ. She told the people to refrain from violence, to be peacemakers instead. Through the power of Christ, she said, she had no bitterness or hate. She asked that a memorial fund be established not for herself but for all the young people in the area where her husband was killed.

The results of her compassionate act were electric. Cynical television crewmen cried. A Stanford coed called in to say that her whole life was changed by this Christian witness. A prisoner, who identified himself as African-American, wrote to Mrs. Whitted: "I owe you a debt. You have never known me but because of your way, your deep understanding, the beauty of your refusal to hate ... I`ll never be able again to hate collectively all white men. What a monument you and your children are to your husband`s memory."

…..“Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea until we have someone to forgive.”

Consider this while reading this Sunday`s Gospel reading:
Luke 6:31-36 2nd Sunday of Luke

The Lord said, "And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful."