Many people have sat with me and asked this question quietly, often after carrying a wound for years. We all know what it feels like when a hurt refuses to rest—when anger or resentment keeps returning, even in moments meant for peace. Forgiveness touches this place in us, not because the pain was small, but because the heart was never meant to live chained to it.
When we do not forgive, something inside us stays clenched. Our thoughts return again and again to what was done, what was lost, what should have been different. Scripture gently reminds us that peace is a gift God desires for His children, yet resentment closes the door to that gift. Forgiveness is not forgetting or excusing; it is choosing to release the debt we keep demanding to be paid. In doing so, we loosen the grip that pain has on our inner life.
The Church teaches that forgiveness is an act of freedom. When we forgive, we step out of the role of judge and place justice back into God’s hands, where it belongs. This surrender does not deny the wound—it entrusts it to divine mercy. Little by little, the heart discovers that it can breathe again. The turmoil softens, prayer becomes quieter, and the soul finds space for God’s gentle presence.
In daily life, forgiveness often unfolds slowly. Some days it is a firm decision; other days it is simply the prayer, “Lord, help me to want to forgive.” Yet each step matters. As forgiveness grows, inner peace follows—not as a sudden silence, but as a steady calm that no longer depends on the past being changed. Peace arrives when the heart is free to rest in love again.
Reflection – A Closing Thought
Ask God today for the grace to loosen whatever binds your heart.
Where forgiveness begins, peace patiently learns how to dwell.
— Fr. John Matthew, for Christian Way.
