^{(art: La Vierge aux Lys, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1899)}

This article is for Catholics who want to renew and grow in their practice of forgiveness, especially in the new year of 2026. This article highlights insights into forgiveness by Pope Leo XIV during the 2026 Solemnity of Mary homily for the mass and Angelus. The insights in this article help Catholics to: understand how forgiveness is Catholic faith in thought in action; pray to God as part of renewing and growing your forgiveness; and use forgiveness as a means by which God exercises salvation and establishes the Kingdom of God on Earth.

The new year is an opportunity for individual Catholics to reflect upon their what they are bringing to the new year in terms of strengths in their faith and areas that need some work or repair. This important annual opportunity for self-examination and recommitment is recognized by the Church, especially in the Solemnity of Mary on January 1st. This important holy day reminds us to look to Mary as a magnificent example of human commitment to faith in God and dedication to carrying out what God wills for the world through each person — and that includes YOU! Do you know how important YOU are to God? If you don’t, God does and you can ask Him about it to find out. That’s even something you can do every morning to start your day — it’s a very good habit to get into.

During the homily for the mass and the Angelus Pope Leo XIV provided important insights into forgiveness that can help you renew and grow your practice in the new year of 2026, or any time. These insights can help you:

“Know, Pray, Do“

• Know how forgiveness is Catholic faith in thought in action.
• Pray to God as a core part of renewing and growing your forgiveness.
• Do forgiveness as a means by which God exercises salvation and establishes the Kingdom of God on Earth.

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Pope Leo’s Forgiveness Insights for Your Renewal and Growth

Here is my short summary of Pope Leo’s points about forgiveness:

• MASS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY
  • Through grace, we can venture forth on this journey [of the new year] with confidence – free and bearers of freedom, forgiven and bringers of forgiveness, trusting in the closeness and goodness of the Lord who accompanies us always.
  • Give God glory through prayer, holiness of life, and by becoming mirrors of his goodness for one another.
  • The example of the naked and defenseless newborn Jesus teaches us that the world is not saved by sharpening swords, nor by judging, oppressing or eliminating our brothers and sisters. Rather, it is saved by tirelessly striving to understand, forgive, liberate and welcome everyone, without calculation and without fear.
• ANGELEUS FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY
  • To cultivate hope for a new world, transform wrongs into forgiveness. This is one of the ways that God himself dwells in history and saves it from oblivion, giving the world our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

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How to Renew and Grow Your Forgiveness (Know, Pray, Do)

KNOW	PRAY	DO
Add to your knowledge and understanding of forgiveness by intentionally being open-minded, reading each of the points, and taking them in as something you know now. Don’t just read the words, actually receive the words and their meaning. Prayer will help get you to being open-minded and ready to receive. For example, you can say St. Thomas’ Prayer Before Study.	There are a few ways to pray about what you have learned about forgiveness from Pope Francis’ points. One way is to: 1) pick one of the points with which you felt the most connection; 2) pray to God in your own words explaining that you feel connected to that statement’ 3) explain to God how or why you feel it is so important for you; 4) share with God how you want that statement to become a reality in your life; 5) ask for God’s grace to make that reality happen. Another way to pray is to just take all of the statements together as one, and basically follow the same steps in prayer. Because God always knows what is in your heart, what you wish you had, and what you wish you need, it is also possible to just pray in a way in which you have Pope Leo’s words in mind, your feelings about them, and just ask God in your own words or wordlessly, to be part of your life in the ways Pope Leo’s words describe.	The “do” is all about responding to what you now know about forgiveness, and what you made an effort to pray about with God, by forgiving someone or asking someone for forgiveness. Sacred Scripture gives us some points for doing forgiveness: forgive others as part of receiving God’s forgiveness for you (Matthew 6:12); forgiveness should be done as often as needed (Matthew 1: 21-22); follow through on giving or receiving forgiveness by offering your heart to God (Matthew 5:23-24). If your “do” is about receiving forgiveness, connecting with your parish pastor to participate in the Sacrament of Penance is important and very helpful in more ways than you might guess it would be. As a matter of fact, the Sacrament of Penance is just as helpful for you in forgiving someone else too! The REACH Forgiveness Process is a step-by-step guided process for person-to-person forgiveness that Live and Forgive provides resources for and is available to facilitate.

How to Keep Going When It’s Tough: Pray, Pray, Pray

Although there is a whole step of its own dedicated to “Pray,” it is important to know that prayer is a component in all three of the Know, Pray, Do steps. Paul teaches us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and that includes all of our effort in engaging with forgiveness. In the table I explain that prayer can be a component of “Know” and is the singular focus of “Pray.” When it comes to “Do” prayer continues to be important, both in our day (e.g. the Lord’s Prayer) and for our participation in the Sacraments.

Prayer is especially important because working on something always comes with its own dose of resistance. Just trying to change things to be different in even the smallest way is work. When you are trying to change things in a big way, you need some big leverage to move things along. Forgiveness is no exception to that. Add in complications, snags, history and and hassles, and you are going to need prayer so you can ask God for help and keep going. Simply put, that’s what you need to do.

You can probably see that. as much work as it is, working on forgiveness is a very good way to “pray without ceasing.” Forgiveness is good work, and a wise investment for you.

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Pope Leo reiterated the blessing in the Liturgy of the Word for the Solemnity of Mary during his homily, and I want to share it again with you so that you may receive encouragement from it for your efforts in renewing and growing your capacity to both give and receive forgiveness (Numbers 6:24-26):

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you
and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you
and bring you peace.

Please share these words with someone who needs them today.

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This article is an original work of the author and was not composed by or with artificial intelligence (AI). The author is solely responsible for the contents of this article. © 2026 Thomas Delaney. All rights reserved.

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If your parish or faith community is seeking a deeper experience of forgiveness, healing, mercy, and spiritual renewal, Live and Forgive is here to help. To begin the conversation, email Live and Forgive presenter and facilitator Tom Delaney at tom@liveandforgive.com — he will be glad to connect with you for a conversation.

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