This Holy Week I had a little shock. As I was walking across the church parking lot on Holy Thursday I heard my name being called. To my surprise, I saw the man who assaulted me riding up on his bike.
To give a little background on how this happened about a week before, our parish priest and I had had a conversation about the place of forgiveness in the church. We both felt that it was important to try and live out the commands of Jesus and love our neighbor. I suggested that we ask the gentleman back to our parish.
Father acted as the intermediary. I honestly don’t know what happened in the meeting that they had, but I do know that the gentleman had been trying to get his life back on track and asked for forgiveness. The problem between the two of us was just part of what he was dealing with in his life, and he seemed like he really wanted to change his life for the better.
That Thursday, we had a very nice talk. He personally asked me to forgive him and offered me his hand. I shook his hand and tried to honestly forgive him from the bottom of my heart. I guess only time will tell if he has turned his life around and if I can really forgive. For both our sakes I hope that we both succeed.
