“How would the scriptures be fulfilled,
which say that it must come to pass
in this way?”
~ Gospel for Palm Sunday, Matthew 26:54
During this latter part of Lent, I am writing a weekly series of articles on forgiveness for the Diocese of St. Cloud and the “Everyday Discipleship” section in Central Minnesota Catholic magazine. In this week’s article, I talk about how God has a plan for each of us, a plan of “sheer goodness” as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it (Catechism 1), and that our lives are meant for fulfillment of that plan and making real that intended goodness. The Gospel for this coming Palm Sunday is also all about fulfillment. If you didn’t know better, you might think that fulfillment can mean nothing but negative consequences, adversities, and misfortunes. That’s the short-sighted view that isn’t informed about the reality of God’s plan for goodness in all cases of fulfillment. When your perspective is informed about how God’s plan and fulfillment really is at work, we can understand Jesus’ courage and confidence in the events of Holy Week, and we can find our own courage and confidence for ourselves in the same way.
These articles will focus on Lenten themes of mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and accompaniment. Each article, in order, will also guide readers through a process to forgive another person as part of Lenten devotion. I hope you will read this second article in the series and consider trying out the guided experience of forgiveness yourself. I know it can be really hard at times to see fulfillment and good at work when we run into hard situations in our lives, but it’s there, even when we just aren’t able to see it for ourselves. It’s the seeing that’s the problem, not the plan or the goodness.
These articles will focus on Lenten themes of mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and accompaniment. Each article, in order, will also guide readers through a process to forgive another person as part of Lenten devotion. I hope you will read this second article in the series and consider trying out the guided experience of forgiveness yourself.
This fourth article is entitled “Everything must be fulfilled” and can be accessed at Central Minnesota Catholic magazine.
You can still access the third article, “Road to Jerusalem, road to forgiveness” at Central Minnesota Catholic magazine.
You can still access the second article, “We, though many, are one!” at Central Minnesota Catholic magazine.
You can still access the first article, “A season like never before!” also at Central Minnesota Catholic magazine.
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 and the opinions and perspectives expressed in the article are solely those of the author. © 2026 Thomas Delaney. All rights reserved.
If your parish or faith community is seeking a deeper experience of wellness and forgiveness for inner renewal and spiritual growth, 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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