(photo: Hartmann Linga, 2025) Forgiveness researcher Robert Enright has published a new piece in Psychology Today examining questions and criticisms focused on whether forgiveness can be harmful. Enwright developed the Guideposts for Forgiving framework and process that is integrated in Live and Forgive presentations, guided retreats, small group series and wilderness walks. In the article, … Continue reading Can forgiving be harmful?
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Divine Forgiveness: From Faith to Science and Back Again
(photo: Vatican Media, September 24, 2025) Pope Leo XIV addressed the topic of divine redemption today in his general audience. Divine redemption is an important concept and principle linked to divine forgiveness - i.e. forgiveness of our transgressions by God. Divine forgiveness is an important topic within forgiveness research because many people in general are … Continue reading Divine Forgiveness: From Faith to Science and Back Again
Understanding Moral Distress & Moral Injury in the Forgiveness Process
(photo: Human Flourishing Program, Harvard University, 2025) I started Live and Forgive as I completed a program in forgiveness education for faith leaders in the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University. Dr. Tyler VanderWeele is the director of the program, and with colleague Dr. Jennifer Wortham, recently proposed improved definitions of moral distress and moral … Continue reading Understanding Moral Distress & Moral Injury in the Forgiveness Process
Pope Leo Connects Justice to Forgiveness
(photo: Vatican Media, September 20, 2025) Today Pope Leo XIV delivered an address in St. Peter's Square on the occasion of the Jubilee of Justice. In Pilgrims on the Way of Hope: A Resource for the Jubilee of Justice, the United States Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) explains: The Jubilee of Justice is an opportunity … Continue reading Pope Leo Connects Justice to Forgiveness
The First Step in Forgiveness is the First Step
(photo: Muhammad Abdullah Iftikhar, 2017) How do I even start? What makes an effective forgiveness process different from one that doesn't have good results is that an effective process has needed steps, in a needed sequence, with each step defined in the certain way that it needs to be defined. Fortunately, scientists have done a … Continue reading The First Step in Forgiveness is the First Step
The Way to Forgiveness: Quiet and Meditation
(photo: Mississippi River shoreline, Julian Garcia-Delaney, Minnesota, 2025) Nature is a very accurate reflection of our mental state. Look once, and you don't see anything. Look again, and suddenly you see something there that you didn't see before. What changed? Today let's consider another one of the Admonitions of St. Francis of Assisi. As I … Continue reading The Way to Forgiveness: Quiet and Meditation
Keys to Forgiveness: Patience & Humility
(photo: Tom Delaney, Stearns County, Minnesota 2025) The colors and shapes of the natural world are a joy to behold. As much as nature is set up to perform amazing displays of splendorous color, we ourselves are set up to behold these displays and experience emotional responses of awe, wonder, and joy at them. It … Continue reading Keys to Forgiveness: Patience & Humility
Franciscan Wisdom for Forgiveness: Balance
(photo: Tom Delaney, Sherburne County, Minnesota, 2025) We had a little surprise in the daily parade of deer along the woodline when this young White-Tailed Deer (Ordocoileus virginianus) buck showed up. In Anishinaabemowin, the language of the indigenous Ojibwe people of our area, these deer are called waawaashkeshi. In the language of the indigenous Dakota … Continue reading Franciscan Wisdom for Forgiveness: Balance
Forgiveness Starts with Self-Awareness
(photo: Gnothi Sauton at Reichert-Haus in Ludwigshafen, Immanuel Giel, 2006) There is an old saying, and it's quite simple: "Know thyself." As short and simple as it is, in the (really) old days, it was understood to be such an important thing to do that it was carved into the rock at the Temple of … Continue reading Forgiveness Starts with Self-Awareness
Connecting with Nature Helps Forgiveness
(photo: Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, 2025) The Vatican News reports that Pope Leo XIV has announced a prayer intention for this month of September "for our relationship with all of creation." In his explanation available via video. Pope Leo XIV specifically recognizes the “the beauty of creation” as a revelation of God and “as the … Continue reading Connecting with Nature Helps Forgiveness
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