Forgiveness – The basis of our Hope that doesn’t Disappoint

By Fr. Christopher Foeckler, MJ • Phoenix, AZ

One of the greatest impediments to Hope that plagues so many believers and non-believers is doubt of the first fruit of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ – the forgiveness of our sins! In a Lenten discourse, Pope Francis asked us to consider, “Am I convinced that the Lord forgives my sins? Or do I act as if I can and have to save myself? Do I long for salvation and call upon God’s help to attain it?”

Here is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, in the discussion of “Hope that doesn’t disappoint”: Do I trust that my sins and the guilt I feel can be taken away to enable me to truly hope that I may attain eternal life and not be lost forever in darkness separated from the Love of God and loved ones? Do I have nagging feelings of unworthiness for my past sins, even those that I have already confessed sacramentally? Do I have a lingering shame that I cannot forgive myself, even though I believe God may have already forgiven me? 

Real, life-giving Hope in the Mercy and Compassion of the Lord for us, no matter how grave, frequent, numerous, or even repeated our sins may be, is expressed in the petition of the leper to Jesus: “Lord, if You want to, You can heal me and make me clean.” It is our hope, not because we want it to be so, but because Jesus answered the leper without hesitation: “I do want to; be healed!” (Cf. Mt. 8:2)

Jesus has the power to forgive sins by virtue of His Divinity as the Beloved Son of God. He gave that power to His disciples on Easter Sunday evening in the upper room! (Cf Jn. 20:22)  He also has the desire and willingness always, and in every circumstance, to offer us His Mercy and Forgiveness commanding the Apostles to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins to the whole world!

St. John Paul II taught in his encyclical on the topic, “Mercy is God’s unconditional Love directed towards our need.” For as St. John the Evangelist wrote in his first letter, “We know and trust the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” (1Jn. 4:16) So, not only can we be convinced, we should be convinced, of God’s power and willingness to forgive us. 

Then we can live in peace and joy that we have been redeemed and washed clean of our sins—and therefore have the Hope that doesn’t disappoint!