BOUND TO FORGIVE IN LIFE

Revoltech Sweet Dreams Pocco Action Figure - “Sometimes the best way to figure out who you are is to get to that place where you don't have to be anything else.”

Writer Norman Cousins said that life is an adventure in forgiveness. I
think Fr. Lawrence Martin Jenco would agree.

In 1984, Fr. Jenco traveled to Beirut, dedicated to help the poorest
of the poor. On January 8, 1985, he was kidnapped by Shiite Muslim
extremists and held hostage for 564 days. He endured imprisonment,
beatings, illness and heartbreaking periods of sorrow and loneliness.
Several years after his release, he wrote a book (BOUND TO FORGIVE,
Ave Maria Press, 1995) about his experiences in captivity and, more
importantly, about the power of love and forgiveness.

Fr. Jenco tells about being taped like a mummy from his ankles to the
top of his head each time he was transported from one place to
another. He described being forced to breathe only from his nose as
his mouth was stuffed with a cloth and taped shut.

He tells of times when his captors said they were going to kill him
and he waited for the bullet to go through his head. Other times he
was dressed up and told he was going home, only to have his spirits
dashed when he was later informed they were teasing.

He remembers being chained hand and foot, donning a plastic bag on his
head, and left in a two-foot by six-foot closet. And he remembers his
stench when he was denied washing for over four months.

He was later asked what lesson those of us who haven't been in such a
position can learn from his experience and apply to our daily living.
He said, "Just look at the madness that goes on in the world today. We
lug our hates and our bigotry and prejudices from generation to
generation and we pass [them] on.... We [must] stop and look at each
other and say, 'I am so sorry for the hurt I caused you. I ask your
forgiveness. ' And then [we must] extend forgiveness and... receive
forgiveness. Somewhere along the line we are going to have to do that.
We're all bound to forgive."

Fr. Jenco has forgiven and can attest to the power of forgiveness. And
though our hurt may not be the same as his, it is no less real. We,
too, are "bound" to forgive. For when we covenant with life to
earnestly forgive whatever hurts come our way, we see amazing results.
We find inner peace and, often, improved physical health as well. As
Dr. O. A. Battista says, "One of the most lasting pleasures you can
experience is the feeling that comes over you when you genuinely
forgive an enemy -- whether he knows it or not."

I've come to realize that genuine forgiveness is crucial if any of us
will find peace. Whether or not it restores a broken relationship, it
sets our own hearts free. Those who will be bound by the promise to
sincerely forgive, will be freed from the bonds of the past. Those are
Fr. Jenco's words: "We're all bound to forgive." And those who are
bound to forgive are bound to be happy.

From Lifesupport.

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