Jn 20:21-23
21 He said therefore to them again: Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, I also send you.
22 When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained.
The Holy Father John Paul II was a Peace maker par excellence. Following the words of Christ he went around the world preaching that very same message of Christ.
Peace is the fruit of reconciliation. Jesus Christ our Lord died in order to forgive our sins, this is why on the day He appeared to his disciples, the first words he exclaimed were "Peace be with you" then He breathed the Holy Spirit upon them and commanded "whatever sins you forgive will be forgiven, whatever sins you retain they will be retained"
Jesus commanded the Apostles to forgive sins, the Church by the powers granted to her has instituted the Sacrament of Penance so that we can confess our sins to the Priest in order to be forgiven by Christ through the absolution of the Priest.
The Holy Father gave public testimony of forgiveness when he He went to prison to forgive personally the man who tried to kill him. He knew the importance of reconciliation and saved a man's soul this way. He also asked forgiveness from the Jews and the Moslems for all the sins of Catholics in the past.
He exhorted us to keep in our hearts the words of Christ "forgive and you shall be forgiven." When we pray the Our Father we make a compromise with God to forgive others, if we fail to reconcile with others there will be no peace in our hearts.
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Peace be with you:
Excerpts
19. "Peace on earth to those whom God loves!" Looking to the Great Jubilee, Christians throughout the world are committed to the solemn commemoration of the Incarnation. Listening again to the proclamation of the Angels in the heavens above Bethlehem (cf. Lk 2:14), they commemorate the Incarnation in the knowledge that Jesus "is our peace" (Eph 2:14), the gift of peace for all people. His first words to the disciples after the Resurrection were: "Peace be with you"(Jn 20:19, 21, 26). Christ came to unite what was divided, to destroy sin and hatred, and to reawaken in humanity the vocation to unity and brotherhood. Therefore, he is "the source and model of that renewed humanity, imbued with brotherly love, sincerity, and a peaceful spirit, to which all aspire".(7) |
