Free Enough to Love Again: From Anger through Forgiveness to LovingKindness
Anger isn’t always the enemy. Sometimes it is a compass, pointing us toward our own fears, hurts, frustrations, sadness — or even what we recognize as injustices that calls us to action. But when anger becomes resentment, it can keep us tethered to old wounds. What if forgiveness is less about excusing what happened and more about setting ourselves free? In Jesus’ call to forgive 7x70, we are invited to notice what our anger is telling us, forgive and in doing so release what binds us, and make room for LovingKindness to flow freely again.
Expanding Our Image of the Divine
God Our Loving Parent
Jesus our Great Role Model
The Holy Spirit – Who Gives us the Grace to grow in our divinity
Songs
Bless the Lord by Matt Redmond – Based on Psalm 103
Opening Prayer
Oh Beloved God – Thank you for creating each of us in your loving image. Thank you for showing us your way through so saints and prophets- most especially through Jesus. Thank you for inviting us to follow you and to forgive. Come with your grace and move us to let go so that we may love more fully. Through our liturgy today, may we know your love more intimately and be transformed to share it more abundantly. In your many holy names we hope and pray and trust. Amen.
Transformation Rite -
Our Beloved God – we come to you today, recognizing that we are both human and holy.
For all the times we’ve expressed our emotions in hurtful ways: Beloved God, thank You for Your mercy.
For all the times we have not forgiven as you have, Jesus thank You for Your mercy.
For all the times we hold onto wounds and let them fester: Holy Spirit, thank You for Your mercy.
Sisters and Brothers – Our BeLoved God is eager to forgive us, heal us and help us to forgive others. Our sins are forgiven. God’s mercy and forgiveness endure forever. Amen.
Praying with Scripture
Prayer for Illumination: Calm us now, O BeLoved God, into a quietness that heals and listens. Open wounded hearts to the balm of your Word. Speak to us in clear tones so that we might feel our spirits leap for joy and skip with hope as your resurrection witnesses. Amen. https://thepastorsworkshop.com/cat-liturgy/prayers-for-illumination/on/forgiveness
FIRST READING: Wisdom of Sirach 27:30-28:7 Introduction: Our first reading today comes from the book of Wisdom It was written by a man named Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira in Jerusalem about 200 years before Jesus lived. Ben Sira was a Hellenist Jew – meaning he was trained in the Greek culture. This book is also known as Ecclesiasticus – and it is filled with lots of wisdom that has been handed down through the ages. In today’s reading ben Sira advises about anger and rage – and about being accountable to God. After you’ve read it through, re-read it and notice what is touching you, calling to you, inviting you to change.
SECOND READING Romans 14:7-12 - Intro: In St. Paul’s letter to the Romans – he reminds us that we belong to Christ and we need to follow Christ’s example – which includes not judging others.
GOSPEL Matthew 18:15-17, 21-35: Intro: This year, we’ll be exploring the kin-dom of God. Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz, was a contemporary Latina theologian who helped us understand God better. She gave us the term, kin-dom – removing the “g” – in doing so, drastically shifting the vision and meaning.
In today’s gospel, we hear another parable about the kin-dom of heaven. Ada Maria also suggests that as we listen to Jesus’ teachings about the kin-dom, we realize that it is here and now…. And that the people have been taught to suffer injustices now for a heavenly reward after our death is one way to control people. Jesus refers to the treatment of pagans or a tax collector. He welcomed both to his table and to his community and even making them leaders.
He also says we must forgive 7x70. Seven was understood to be a perfect number, whole, sacred.
AndreaGrace’s Reflection:
Wow—there’s a lot here for us to explore.
Let’s begin with anger.
Rage can be destructive. Anger that is unleashed without thought or care can hurt ourselves and others.
But anger itself isn’t necessarily bad.
Anger is a very human emotion—and sometimes, it can be a guide. It can be a kind of compass, pointing us toward something that needs our attention.
Often, underneath our anger is another feeling: fear, frustration, hurt, sadness, disappointment.
Think back to a recent time when you felt angry.
With the help of the Holy Spirit, gently ask yourself:
What was underneath my anger?
Was I afraid?
Was I hurt?
Was I grieving something?
Was I frustrated because something important to me wasn’t being heard or honored?
Sometimes anger tells us where healing is needed.
And sometimes anger tells us where action is needed.
That is especially true of righteous anger—the anger we feel when we encounter injustice. Righteous anger doesn’t simply rage. It moves us toward action. It asks: What can I do to help make this right?
But anger can also become something else.
When we hold onto it—when we replay the hurt again and again—it can become resentment.
I like to think about the word resentment as “re-sentiment”: to feel something again. And again. And again.
We keep returning to the wound.
We replay the conversation.
We rehearse what they did.
We imagine what we should have said.
And before we know it, the person who hurt us is still taking up space in our hearts and minds.
The wisdom of the 12-Step tradition has something important to teach us here. In Step Four, people are invited to take an honest inventory of their resentments—to name the people, institutions, or principles they resent; to consider what happened and how it affected them.
But then comes the harder question:
What was my part?
Not: Was everything my fault?
Not: Was what happened to me okay?
But: What belongs to me?
What did I do?
What did I fail to do?
What am I still carrying?
And what might God be inviting me to release?
We sometimes say that when we point one finger at someone else, three fingers point back toward us.
That kind of honest self-examination can be difficult—but it can also set us free.
And then comes forgiveness.
There is a little word tucked right into the middle of forgiveness: give.
Forgiveness is a gift.
And sometimes, the first person who receives that gift is us.
Because holding onto resentment is like clutching a burning coal. We may hope somehow that it will hurt the other person—but we are the ones whose hands are being burned.
Forgiveness does not mean pretending the hurt never happened.
It does not mean saying injustice was acceptable.
It does not always mean reconciliation.
Forgiveness means I will no longer allow this hurt to bind me.
I release the imaginary ties that keep me tethered to the person, the event, the wound.
I grant freedom.
And in doing so, I discover that the person I am freeing is also myself.
Forgiveness makes room for LovingKindness to flow freely again.
Forgiveness is a decision – feelings can flow after the decision.
Corrie Ten Boom taught: “Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.”
“Forgiveness is the key that unlocks the door of resentment and the handcuffs of hatred. It is a power that breaks the chains of bitterness and the shackles of selfishness.”
Sometimes I envision granting forgiveness by imagining that I am cutting a string that has kept me bound to another in unhealthy ways.
Jesus showed us the way of forgiveness over and over—not denying pain or injustice, but refusing to let hatred have the final word.
And Jesus invites us to do the same:
to notice our anger,
to listen to what it is telling us,
to act when justice calls us to act,
to examine what belongs to us,
and then, when we are ready,
to release what no longer needs to bind us.
Because forgiveness is not simply about letting someone else go.
Forgiveness is about becoming free enough to love again.
A Guided Meditation: Releasing Anger
I invite you to get comfortable. Maybe sit back and place your hands in your lap. Close your eyes or cast your gaze down at the floor. Please take in a deep breath of the Holy Spirit and release it slowly. Feel yourself relaxing. Take in another breath in of the Holy Spirit and again release it slowly along.
Imagine that you are in one of your favorite places. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel?
While you are in this place, you notice that Jesus appears and approaches you.
How do you respond?
Jesus says, “My beloved child. I know what’s on your heart. I know how hard it can be to forgive.”
How do you respond?
Jesus gives you eyes to see your heart. What do you notice?
Jesus points out some area of unforgiveness. How do you respond?
He asks “Would you like to release it now?” How do you respond?
Then what happens…
Jesus holds out his hand and in it is a gift for you. He offers it to you.
How do you respond? What do you do? If you are able, please put the gift in a special place, perhaps deep in your heart.
Jesus has a final message for you.
How do you respond?
When you are ready, thank Jesus for the visit today.
In your time, take a few deep breaths and gently bring yourself back to our gathering.
Open your eyes.
Amen. So be it.
Two People Who Have Moved from Anger through Forgiveness to Tremendous LovingKindness
Corrie Ten Boom – she was born in Amsterdam in 1892 and raised in the Netherlands –
where she became the first female watchmaker. During World War II, her family created a hiding place in their family’s home where they sheltered an estimated 800 Jewish people. She and her sister were caught and sent to the Ravensbrück concentration camp. There they taught people about Christianity. Corrie witnessed the murder of her sister. Later, in a miraculous clerical error, Corrie was set free from the camp. She was able to forgive all those involved in these horrific acts, wrote a book about her experience – including forgiveness – and spent the remainder of her life traveling the world preaching about forgiveness. She helped turn the concentration camp into a healing retreat center for those affected by the war. A couple of Corrie’s great quotes: “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”
She is attributed with saying: “The longest journey a person can make is the twelve inches from the head to the heart.” That is what we try to do in the BeLoved Community – move religion from our heads to our hearts, focusing on growing in God’s LovingKindness.
Throughout her life, even in the concentration camp, Corrie practiced LovingKindness.
There are some great films you can watch to learn more about her and her extraordinary life.
Ed Klugman - click to read his obituary
And today – I remember another person who turned from anger to forgiveness and LovingKindness, my mentor, Ed Klugman, whose birthday was today. He was born into a Jewish family in Germany in 1925. His childhood was disrupted by the Nazis and he was on one of the last KinderCars to transport Jewish children to safety – for him, it was in England. At the age of 12, he made his way on a boat alone to reconnect with his parents and older brother in New York City. He went onto Columbia – eventually earning his doctorate. Ed dedicated his life to early childhood education and the importance of play – something he was robbed of in his own childhood. He married and raised two beautiful daughters and treasured his granddaughters and great-granddaughter. In the beginning of Ed’s retirement, he focused on intergenerational engagement which is when we first connected. Then, in his 90s, he turned towards Adonai, the Jewish G-d of his childhood, focused on healing from the traumas he suffered, and then collaborated with colleagues from around the world to sharing his lessons and experiences with a book entitled Global Healing. Ed had a profound impact on me. I mentioned him in a blogpost about this summer – and I was honored and humbled to write his obituary which you can also read on my website.
We invite Corrie, Ed and all the saints and angels to be with us as we move through our days. .
Read our standard Eucharistic prayers here.
A Blessing: When we Breathe Together from Circles of Grace by Jan Richardson
This is the blessing
we cannot speak
by ourselves.
This is the blessing
we cannot summon
by our own devices,
cannot shape
to our own purposes,
cannot bend
to our own will.
This is the blessing
that comes
when we leave behind
our aloneness,
when we gather
together,
when we turn
toward one another.
This is the blessing
that blazes among us
when we speak
the words
strange to our ears,
when we finally listen
into the chaos,
when we breathe together
at last.
This is an outline of the BeLoved Inclusive Catholic Community’s Mass for Sept. 13, 2026 for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time in Cycle A. Learn more here.
If you were inspired or touched or became more curious, Join us any Sunday at 10:30 AM ET on Zoom. The link is sent out weekly via email or text. Sign-up here. We hope that you will join us and experience God's LovingKindness and beauty in our community.
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