Jesus was heavy into forgiveness. That was what the kingdom of God was really all about. In the kingdom of God’s mercy, said St. Therese, there is nothing but mercy and forgiveness. God overwhelms us with this implacably merciful love. God won’t let us go without forgiving us. All this is very strange of God once you stop to think about it, but that’s the way  God is. However, there is a catch – there often is with God. He expects us to forgive others, not to win his love but to reveal it. We teach people about our God by the way we forgive others.

  Once upon a time a certain parish Council decided to redecorate the parish hall which, was to tell you the truth, a terrible mess. The hall served both the parish school and the parish teen club. The people on the committee split fifty fifty (which often happens on parish committees). One half said that the parish didn’t need the noisy, messy, dirty teens on its property. They ruined property, they spilled pop on the floor, they threw beer cans on the rectory lawn. They ought to be banned. The other half, needless to say did not have any parents of teens. The other half  argued that the grammar school kids had the whole school to themselves   and the least they (they meant their parents) could do was let the teens have a bit of the parish to which they could come on Friday night. The pastor whose name wasn’t Father Solomon but he felt like it said that as long as the parish had the hall it had been used for both. The two groups of parents both turned against him and blamed the whole problem on his lack of administrative decisiveness. Well, the fight went on and on and pretty soon no one on either side was speaking to anyone on the other side. Life long friendships came to an end. Kids had fights with other kids.  The pastor said that maybe they ought to build a community center for the teens. Then everyone accused him of wasting money that should be spent on the poor. He applied for a transfer and the new pastor abolished the parish Council.