Fr. Barron on New Year’s Resolutions – http://www.wordonfire.org

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12 COMMENTS

  1. What if the enemy has abused you and your children? I pray for him, but I am finding it EXTREMELY difficult to forget. I am trying to forgive. To have any more contact would just mean more abuse to me and my family. What do you recommend in situations like these?

    • Michelle, you say you’re praying for him and that’s good. But you can’t expect that you will be able to forgive on your own. You pray for him, good, but pray for yourself and ask for the grace to forgive. God will give you this gift – and it is a gift, not something we can do on our own. He will give you this gift and more – the ability to even pity and love your abuser, in time. Trust Him, give Him every emotional scar and hurt, and ASK for the grace to forgive and it will be given beyond your imagination. I’ll pray for you too.

      • Thank you Michelle and Susan. Please pray for me in the same situation, but I believe what Susan said, because I already experience some elements of Gods grace in my heart towards him.

  2. I want to thank you Father for your excellent words. You are so blessed with the ability to explain our faith and encourage us on our journey. I am a Benedictine oblate and the encouragement you provide with your words helps me along the way to being as close to God as I can be. May God bless you abundantly always!!

  3. When I was a teenager, I wanted to develop a prayer life, so I decided to say an “Our Father” every night before going to sleep. Eventually it became a habit, and then I gradually added more prayers. That’s an easy way to start a habit of prayer.

  4. Michelle,I so much FULLY understand u about forget and forgive,the hardest for me is to forgive myself. I deal with PSTD from abused childhood. What is helping me his working with a exorist priest. Wish I could share more. Through this my prayer life has gotten better. Will keep u in prayers.
    Fr. Barron u are a good preacher.I always look forward for your talks. God Bless!

  5. Hi Father good video… but as an Aussie I felt left out at the end, don’t forget your global audience 😉

    “Forgiving and forgetting” is a false wisdom in contemporary culture. Forgive, yes but remember. “Forgetting” does not deal with the problem at hand. I would not contact certain people if it is not safe to do so. Forgiveness is certainly not an overnight process it can take a long time and may require a slow healing process.

  6. Fr. Barron, thank you so much for these excellent thoughts and the very communicative way of explaining! I summarized what you said in German and published it on the starting page of my Catholic Dating Service for German speaking people http://www.kathTreff.org. The link to the video is provided at the end of the summary: several people speak sufficient English to understand the video. Here is the link: https://www.kathtreff.org/ueber-kathtreff/kathtreff-ratgeber/details/artikel/ein-gutes-jahr-und-gute-neujahrsvorsaetze.html
    Many best new year’s wishes to you and the readers of this website from Vienna! Gudrun

  7. it is good to forgive but to forget is also good it just that we got brain to recall.so remembering should not be an excuse not to forgive and let go.

  8. Yes to forgive (aphiemi) means “to let go” but the question is how do we deal with what had happened. To “forget” e.g “No worries, forget about it” is just a form of denial, that’s not what forgiveness is about. The contemporary wisdom implies this denial. We can’t continue on as if the past has little to no importance. Part of the forgiveness/ healing process requires honestly looking back and dealing with what had happened rather than trying to move on ignoring all that had happened. This kind of process entails moving from hurt (gradual process) to reconciliation.

    Source of information: Gula, Richard. “The Good Life: Where Morality and Spirituality Converge.” pg 110-11

    We also do not want to associate forgiveness with denying one’s anger- this can also lead to unhealthy consequences.

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