Retreatants study forgiveness
| Forgiveness - In his discussion of forgiveness, Father Schiro reviewed Henri Nouen’s analysis of Rembrandt’s painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” He said that God loves the sinner as much as he loves the saint, and He is ready to forgive. | |||
It is nearly 8:00 PM on Friday and we have now completed the first 24 hours of our silent retreat at Manresa. The 109 men attending this three-day retreat have already heard four of the retreat master’s lectures based upon the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola. Father Nick Schiro’s first lecture led us into the retreat with Jesus’ instructions to “go to an out of the way place and rest a little.” [Mark 6:31] That was in itself relaxing. His second lecture asked - and did a good job of answering - probing questions about our own purpose. In his third lecture, Father challenged us to confront and examine our own image of God and our belief in Him. And in his most recent lecture, we looked at what sin is. With many things, enough is enough. But at this point in our retreat, the retreatants are eager to hear more, and many have arrived for the lecture quite early. Two days ago we were rushing around making last minute preparations for this trip and taking care of responsibilities that would be left unattended for the weekend. We were shopping, cutting grass, and paying bills. Just yesterday, we were anxiously making sure we had packed the proper clothes, toiletries, and prescriptions for this trip. We were saying goodbye to loved ones, and making sure they would be safe and comfortable in our absence. Now all of that is in God’s hands, and the retreatants are in God’s presence. Here at Manresa there is no morning newspaper reporting a daily tally of who’s killing whom - there is nothing but the Good News of Jesus Christ revealing who should be loving whom. There are no telephones to distract, no televisions to distort, no e-mails to disturb. The retreatants are eager to hear more. On cue, Father Schiro enters the room, begins with a prayer, and the topic of the lecture quickly becomes apparent to the retreatants - it is forgiveness. Father reminds us of the Lord’s Prayer, and reminds us that God cannot forgive us until we do two things: we must admit our fault and express our true sorrow. When we do so, God is quick to forgive us. As he continues, Father Schiro refers us to Luke 15. In this chapter, Jesus explains to the Pharisees and the scribes why he convenes with sinners. In what has become known as the Parable of the Lost Sheep, our Lord relates the finding of one lost sheep to the repentance of one sinner: "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” He briefly refers us to the Parable of the Lost Coin, in which Christ uses the story of a poor woman finding her lost coin to illustrate that "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Father Schiro then discusses the Parable of the Prodigal Son, which is also found in Luke 15 and has become known, among other things, as the greatest short story of all times because of its completeness. Thoroughly exploring this story, Father Schiro points out that God loves the sinner, represented by the prodigal son, as much as he loves the saint, represented by the brother. Father refers us to a book written by Henri Nouwen, who was a Jesuit priest, psychologist, author, and professor who taught at Notre Dame and Yale. In his book "The Return of the Prodigal Son," Nouwen analyzes the painting of the same name by Rembrandt that depicts the prodigal son story, then brings out how there is a bit of each of its three main characters in each of us. Father Schiro continues to lead us into Scripture. He first turns his Bible to read aloud Luke 22:54-62 - where Peter denies Jesus three times - and then purposefully pages to John 21: 15-17 - where Jesus asks Peter three times in succession, “Do you love me?” Isolated from the hectic pace back home, the retreatants privately consider the many times and ways they deny Jesus, and the ensuing question mentally towers before each one of us: “Do you love Jesus?” Father Schiro finishes his lecture and the men recite their evening prayers together. The scheduled activities of the day have concluded and we silently stream out of the lecture hall exits, each man to his own accord. Cherishing the moment, still absorbing the content of Father’s lecture, we have all the time in the world to consider its meaning. “Thank you Lord, for your forgiveness.”