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Forgive to Cut the Ties

Love isn't really love unless it's practical. The first step on this path of practical love is forgiveness. First, last and always, forgive. If you haven't forgiven someone, go and find him and implore his forgiveness.

You can't expand the power of your heart if you hold on to anger. It's amazing when we realize how much anger is in the world and how determined some people are to hang on to that anger.

When we refuse to forgive a friend or an enemy who has wronged us, we tie ourselves not only to that person but to his anger...We create negative karma with that person, and we are not truly free of that person until we resolve the anger and balance the karma.

People go to their graves without making peace with enemies. This is indeed a tragedy, for they carry their resentments and their desire for revenge into their next life. What a great pity when in the course of the very same embodiment, they could reach ultimately to the stars and surrender their life to absolute God-victory. Yet lifetime after lifetime they may hold on to their resentment and revenge, with no letup in sight.

Our beloved Jesus was a prophet of love. Maybe you have heard his words on love and forgiveness so many times that you don't stop to think about what they really say. To me they are one of the most practical guides to spirituality you could ask for.

Peter asked Jesus, "How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" Jesus replied, "Not...seven times, but seventy times seven."