Early summer’s warm weather and revitalizing rains have greened the landscape here in Central Minnesota this month. The pastures fill with good fodder for horses and all creatures alike, and the woods are full of life.
I think it is true that you can’t give something that you don’t already have. When it comes to forgiveness, our ability to forgive depends on whether we have a store or well of empathy within ourselves to draw upon. Where does empathy come from? It may be possible to talk yourself into having some kind of empathy for a person, using your best crafted rationales and logical conclusions. That said, I think that empathy is much bigger than what we can figure being rational, and in some ways rationalizing empathy may place limits on it that don’t need to be there…and maybe shouldn’t.
Another possibility is a store or well of empathy based on an awareness of God’s limitless and unrelenting love for us. We may become aware of this love by taking in scriptural passages like the reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans that is part of today’s morning prayers (lauds) in the Liturgy of the Hours:
What will separate us from the love of Christ? … For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers nor height, nor depth nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~ Romans 8:35-39 (abridged)
You can also become aware of this love by intentionally looking around and seeing how the created natural world is set up to provide us with what we need to live, flourish, and prosper, We can even consider our own physiological structure and see that we are literally set up to receive love and to pass this love on to others. If we look intentionally, we can see people loving other people, and come to the very true realization that the world is in fact set up for love. When you become aware of this limitless and unrelenting love, even in the hardest of circumstances, in the recent words of Pope Leo, it becomes possible for you to “‘lift up your eyes” to the One who, through the presence of so many people, never ceases to show you his love and closeness” (Address of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, “Penitential Center Brians 1” (Barcelona), Wednesday, 10 June 2026).
When it comes to forgiveness, when we have awareness of God’s limitless and relentless love for all of us, we can look at the person who wronged us and see that they are more defined by God’s love than by their mistakes and situations. As Pope Leo put it:
Every human being is “worthy” by the mere fact “of having been willed, created and loved by God” (Magnifica Humanitas, 52). There is, therefore, no situation that causes the Lord to turn his gaze away from us. It is a consoling truth that accompanies us at all times and reminds us how his merciful love always outweighs whatever good or evil we may have done … remember that life’s mistakes do not define a person’s identity.
Forgiveness then becomes our response to God’s love, not strictly rational, but with all the elements of our being: emotional, spiritual, even physical. Our response of forgiveness also becomes our own participation in God’s limitless and relentless love. We remove our own separation from that love, and unite ourselves with it. When we remove our own barriers to this love, we naturally have a better awareness and deeper experience of it in our daily lives. In this way, you are actually increasing the love in this world every day and contributing to a better world of love in the future. God has a sort of dream for the world to be filled with the love that it is set up for, and as Pope Leo says in encouragement, “Keep dreaming God’s dream!”
I think Pope Leo gives us a very good summary and prayer for going forward in our lives with a greater awareness of God’s love that we can draw upon in forgiving others — it is practically a daily prayer”
Let us make room for the Lord in our hearts and seek his face. Let us allow his love to guide us. Let us cling to him, who continually invites us to hope and shows us a wonderful horizon that no physical barrier can prevent us from reaching. Today, he continues to speak to us in the depths of our consciences, helping us discover that he dwells among us. He is only waiting for us to give him a chance.
Please share these words with someone who needs them today.
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.
Live and Forgive 