In the Upper Room, the Risen Christ came bearing gifts: the gifts of his peace and woundedness.
He who can read our hearts knew more than anyone else that his friends, like Peter, felt remorse and shame for having let him down, for allowing their fears to overcome them. So the first word he spoke to them is “Peace.” And he said it to them not just once, but twice. He knew they needed so much to hear it from him.
Once again we catch a glimpse of the tender mercy of Jesus. Though he had every right to be self-righteously indignant and to scold his disciples, he did none of that. Instead he extended on them the peace that they needed.
How different we are from Jesus, and how much we can learn from him! He shows us that just because we are right does not mean that we can huff and puff about how wrong other people are and how wronged we have been. It is, however, possible to resist that temptation and to choose to be big-hearted like Jesus, even if and especially because we are right and others are wrong.
Aside from peace and forgiveness, the Risen Lord also came bearing his wounds. He bares the wounds on his hands and side to the very people who had–in spite of themselves–become accomplices to his death.
Again our Lord is teaching us something again about his mercy.
While we insist that we can forgive only after our wounds heal, Jesus just forgives. It’s his way of telling us that forgiving itself brings about healing.
Think once again about the people who are hard to forgive because of the deep wounds they have inflicted on you and your loved ones.
The deeper the wounds and the longer they remain raw, the much harder–and the more painful!–it is to forgive, isn’t it?
The Lord understands that, and he can help us.
What help would you like to ask from the Risen Lord this Easter?
Take time to reflect on this question.
Feel free to write down the kind of help you would like to ask from Him in the COMMENTS section below. Please share anonymously; no need for your name or any personal information.
Play some music if you wish.
Image source: “Son of God” (2014)
amor931.mx
Music: “L’ Heure Exquise” from Unexpected Songs by Julian Lloyd Webber/John Lenehan. Released: 2006.
90 replies on “HE COMES BEARING GIFTS”
Loving Lord,
Allow me to see pieces of You in every endeavour I take. May every individual I interact with reveal Your face. Let every experience bring a message from You. And may my presence allow others to see Your presence.
Amen.
Lord Jesus, thank you for showing us your mercy despite our abandonment of you. Up until now I still feel remorse remembering the mortal sins I have committed at a very young age. But I know and I believe in time, I will feel complete healing because of your forgiveness. I humbly ask You Lord to show me to the right path on what I should do with my life. I am so confused on which track I have to cross. Make me see what I ought to be doing in this scattered thoughts and desires of my heart. Help me see, understand, and accept what you have in store for me. Help me not to run away from you when you placed me to where I ought to be. Thank You Lord Jesus for everything. Amen.
Bless me Jesus;
To be perceptive of You in the storms of my life.
To grow deeper in love with You – and consequently OBEY You.
To be at peace when my wants and needs are not met.
To be merciful and not selfrighteous of others with me.
To be like You – in body, mind, spirit. Amen.
Thank you Lord for your forgiveness,mercy and peace.Please forgive me Lord for all my sins. Thank you for healing me and i need complete healing Lord and i claim it Lord. I hope i can truly forgive my neighbor who hurt me.Please help me Lord to forgive them.Soften my heart and be just like you who easily forgives. Bless me with a forgiven heart. Bless me and my family of good health,financial freedom,merciful heart and to be with you always and to follow you Lord.
Lord, thank you for guiding me and my family, for I was able to heal the wounds inflicted in meby my daughter by forgiving her. This Holy Week after this retreat, I am completely healed and was able to accept her with my whole heart. Thank you, Lord, that I have learned a lot and was able to open my door of mercy, that I was able to realize that I have a lot of trolley in me. Thank you fir I was able to bring it to you.
Dear Lord,
I pray that you continue to bless my family with good health and loving support for one another. I ask that you guide me as I embark on my new career that it may be done for the greater glory of God. It does not seem as direct as other jobs how I may be of service to others but Lord please help me to see how my job can still be an instrument of your love to this world. Amen.
Lord, I pray for my family’s good health. I have always had fears and concerns about death and hell. It helps to know that Jesus has power over it. I pray for my family members who are not Catholic that they may also enter the kingdom of God because they are good and loving people too.
Thank you Lord for this life. Thank you for being ever present.
I pray for my family. Keep them safe O Lord.
I pray for my country and my fellowmen. Please grant us the wisdom to choose wisely.
Dear Lord please heal my family as we have been through with so much pains which are incomparable to all Your sacrifices for us.
Knock in their hearts that they may recognize You more.
Forgive me for all my sins and may I receive mercy for people I have wronged.
Thank you so much for this gift of on line retreat which may open tbe hearts of my family .
We pray for healing… from the wounds of division. For reconciliation…for enlightenment…for peace, the same peace that you gifted your disciples with, when YOU first appeared to them in the upper room.
Dear Lord Jesus, I ask for the grace to be whole again and that my faith in you be renewed. May I be able to resonate in your resurrection the gift of hope and goodness. Help me believe once more in the goodness of everyone…believing that goodness will prevail and that I am also capable of doing that which is genuinely good to others and myself. May I be a joyful Christian! May I be a more generous and faith-filled Christian. May I be a merciful, loving and forgiving Christian. May I be like you my dear Lord. May I embrace you in others and may others find you too in me. Amen.
Dear Lord,
First of all, please help me to forgive myself – for all my wrongdoings, for my imperfections and weaknesses. So I may also truly forgive others, give me the strength to forgive whole-heartedly and forget the pain. Please continue to bless me and my loved ones that we may always show mercy, kindness and love to each one of us. Help us to make you always the center of our lives. We love you Lord Jesus. You are our Savior and we praise your name oh Lord God!
Our Risen Lord,
Pray for me that I may truly forget and forgive those who have wounded me deep. Pray that I may have the courage to bear the sufferings, the hurts, the insults cast upon me for staying by your side and for also being apart from you because of my sins. Forgive me as well and teach me how be forgiving to others and myself so that we may join you once more in the place where we can joyfully celebrate rising from our faults and being in the company of your love. Amen.
Dear Jesus,
I know forgiving is hard enough, but asking for forgiveness is harder. It means giving the other person the upper hand, the right or ability to decide my fate – whether she finds me worthy of her forgiveness or not. If only we were all like God, forgiving and loving unconditionally. But we are not. I know I am not. I can only pray that the one I had offended can find it in her heart to forgive me. I am utterly sorry.
Dear Lord,
Teach me to genuinely forgive those who have hurt me. May i see them thru your eyes, free of hatred and full of mercy. Above all Lord, please teach me to forgive myself as you forgave me.
Amen.
My Risen Lord,
Help me to be more loving and merciful like you.
Help my family to be more loving and merciful too.
Help us to have more faith and rely on you always.
Thank you Lord for the gift of life and the gift of salvation.
I love you Lord.
Amen.
Dear Lord,
Help me forgive those who caused the deepest cut in my life, those who made me weak and unsure of my capabilities and those who made it hard for me to trust again.. I have prayed everyday to be able to do so but it seems time has not changed how I felt about them.. Help me to be merciful as you and be an obedient child to You Lord.. All of this I asknin your name. Amen.
Risen Lord, help me get my second wind and set me on the proper course towards the challenges of my twilight years. Help me to be a loving person and to be lovable to others despite my iniquities.
Like Peter Lord, you could read my heart even its recesses, Nothing I hide, you will not see. Give me light, a broom and the will to clean my darkest secrets that will let me find You easier.
Thank you Lord for everything: the good, the not so good and most of all the bad, for it is in those occasions, that I often run to You who with open arms have always patiently waited for me. AMEN.
Asking the risen Lord to help me…
To be “alive” again.
Too be generous and giving again.
To be loving again.
To be trusting in the Lord again.
To be grateful again.
Amen.
Risen Lord!
You know how much our lives have been miserable. Yes, we live an imperfect life. Our hatred has allowed each one of us to linger on the darkness of sins. Lord, we always struggled to follow your will. Let it stay this way. Help us to remember that forgiving ourselves will begin the healing. Allow us, oh Lord to experience your loving grace and mercy. Lord, I humbly ask that we always have the courage to suffer like you so that we may also experience joy in the end. Heal us oh Lord and may we strive to communicate, to sympathize, to understand…all this I ask in the name of the risen Jesus. amen.
Thank you Lord Jesus for your rising again…I seek your grace to continuously guide me in all what I do as I walk through life. May you give me the heart of Peter, to consistently walk towards you and reach you… Please give me a discernment that can make me a better servant for your glory. Please give me the wisdom to understand your purpose in letting all the trials or ‘baggage’ I carry though life. Let me be steadfast in my faith and never question your unending divine providence… This I ask in your mighty Name…. Amen.
Dear God, I pray for good health for me and my family. I pray for healing, I am claiming that this year, I’d be healthier and stress-free. I also pray for a better job with good working environment and better salary offer. I pray that the desires my husband and my heart be granted this year. We pray all this for your greater honor and glory. Amen
Dear Risen Lord,
I pay for new beginnings and fresh starts.
I pray for true and complete healing of past hurts. And the wisdom to put boundaries needed for true and lasting peace.
Teach me to put my hope in you and and you alone.
So I can let go and surrender all in your loving, capable hands.
I pray for new beginnings. For everyone. New life for those depressed, sick, sad, lonely, poor.
May we, all together, rise with you this Easter. Amen.
Dearest Jesus,
Thank you for healing me, inside and out, this Lenten season. I ask for your help to be able to go to confession and receive your most loving graces.
Teach me to forgive and to have a big heart like yours, especially when they are wrong and I am right.
Give me the strength to run to you and to run with you when life seems like hell.
I love you.
Lord Jesus, I pray for a new and better job – one that is mentally and financially fulfilling. I pray that you will make me a perfect fit for the company You want me to work for. I pray for good health for my family, friends and myself. I pray for a peaceful, clean and honest elections – may You provide us with a leader who has the sincerest intentions of serving our country.
Thank You Jesus for everything! I accept all the Good Fridays in my life, because I know You are there! I thank You for all my Easter Sundays, because, You, again, are there!
Anonymous
Dear Lord, open my heart so may understand and fully accept others.
Thank you for reminding me that You, my Lord, will always be there to accept me for who I am. I may be like Peter, but I ask for your guidance, my Lord, and help to overcome whatever it is that has been slowing me down. May all the pain and hatred be soon gone and may all these experiences soon lead me back to You. Amen.
Oh Lord, please open my heart so that I may forgive those whom I have perceived to have wronged me or my loved ones. Please take away my arrogance so that I may accept & love those whom I think of less. Give me the grace to take the needed steps to be more open & loving. I may stumble in these efforts but give me the strength to continue & persevere.
salamat lord for the gift of life and the graces u have given to me.Lord,sorry for not confesssing my sins and prepare myself to confess the sins
Once again, Lord, I felt you – I felt you directly talking to me through this retreat… I know you know what is inside me. There is so much going on. But if there is something I would like to ask right now is for you to give me a heart like yours. Soften up my heart, Lord. Be patient with me. Help me understand and accept others despite the heartaches and even the headaches. Heal me. Touch my heart, dear Lord.
Dearest Lord, thank you for the grace of forgiveness. Thank you for making me whole again despite of the brokenness.
Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me inspite of my sinfulness and thank You for forgiving my sins.
Forgive me if at times i set you aside, if i do things which hurt you.
I forgive my husband for thinking badly about me, for blaming him for my unsuccessful career, and not for being a good provider for us, his family.
To whoever might have hurt me, i forgive them; and to those i might have wronged, i ask for forgiveness.c
Lord help me to forgive and forgive freey and whole heartedly the person who has hurt my family. It is difficult because I have so much anger. Maybe because he was once very close to me and his betrayal, his painful words hurt me a lot. My anger eats me up. I can feel it and I know that the only way I can let this go is to forgive and accept.
Thank you Fr Johnny n team for opening up our minds and hearts
To see a larger world in need, in such wretchedness and chaos.
We start her and now with our own beloved country, raped n robbed
for too long.
Pray for us that we find the heart to leave our comfort zones, go thru the
door into the chaos and wretchedness of
the night.
Thank you for spending these days with us in prayer n love.
The situation of our dear country is indeed heartbreaking, and you are right: This is where we begin. What work we need to do! Again. 🙁 But we must keep our faith and walk into the chaos and work things out 🙂
I pray for forgiveness and a merciful heart, Lord. Let me be like You, whose mercy knows no bounds. I pray that I may be able to show You my love. I don’t deserve Yours, but here You are with open arms. I love You. Amen.
Loving Father, please open my heart to a dear brother who have been so close to me among my siblings. He has humiliated in the pasts inside a Church. Despite of that I continue to cater to him whenever the need arises.
He is afflicted with many diseases which turned for worse over the recent years. Dealing with you have been very difficult. A person who is very angry and have a very strong sense of entitlement. This eventually led to the further souring of our relationship, which led me to not talking much to him if not ignoring him because I am mad and very disappointed with him.
Merciful God please show me the way to reconcile with him,Amen
I thank you Lord for the gift of life and good health that enable me to enjoy and marvel at your wonderful creations. You know me well and fully understand my needs. Grant that You will be my side as I go along life’s path to your glory.
I pray for awareness, for with it, I can properly discern.
Amen.
Lord, you have given me so much that I am grateful for all that you have done for me. Teach me to love as you loved and help me to bear my cross daily with patience and humility. Show me what I need to do to show my love for you. Sometimes, I feel I am not doing enough for you. Help me to begin again and again whenever I stumble and fall, to remain faithful to you and steadfast in my love for you.
Thank you, Jesus. Love you.
Dearest Lord,
Please help me to forgive those who have hurt me — especially because these people who hurt were people I loved, thus the wounds they inflicted run deep. Help me to get over the resentment, and still look at the future with hope that someday I will still find the one You have meant for me.
Lord Jesus, in my ministry I hurt many persons because of my personality . I’m very strict, I know I lack the mercy and tenderness/compassion. Please shower me the grace of mercy, tenderness and compassion as I go on serving you in the music ministry.. Thank you for your great love and great example.. Thank you for the team who provided us this online retreat..
I once been wounded by the person whom I trust, but I prayed for a forgiving heart and forgiveness for him. I forgave him and I already forgave myself, but the pain is still there…. But i know in God’s perfect time He will heal my wounded heart…. I also like to ask for forgiveness for the people in the ministry whom I hurt in my thoughts and in my words…
Thank you dear Jesus for your tender touch of your mercy and love. Your love heals my wounds my hurts caused by my own pride, unforgiving heart and by my
Selfish ways.
Lord Jesus, make me by your grace a
Channel of your peace, of your love and your
Blessings.. So that others may also
See your goodness and encounter
You in their lives, amen
Forgiveness for four people who somewhere along the way hurt my career. But I also know that I need the forgiveness of the same people whom I have hurt too….I have moved on and had left the institution but I hurt knowing that I hurt them too….We all desperately need mercy because of our tendency to hurt each other…May the King of Love bind us all together in His Heart……. Is God merciful because He loves us or does He love us because He is merciful? Which comes first, love or mercy? God loves us because He is merciful or God is full of mercy because He loves us….
Dear Lord Jesus, you revealed a pain I long buried because I don’t know what to do with it. But today, you made me aware that I am hurting and I open my wounds to you my Lord. I still don’t know what to do except it was a long time I neglected to bring this out in the open to you, my Redeemer.
You suffered so much, my Lord, and gave your life so I can have mine. I bring to you my broken heart, my broken life to mend. Make me whole oh Lord. Restore my heart and my health.
Thank you my Lord for becoming fully human. Thank you Lord for your tender mercy. In your mercy, I find hope and healing.
Dear Lord, I would like to ask for forgiveness for the wrong things that I have done. For being self-righteous and for thinking less of others. For being selfish of my time, effort, and talents. For being self-centered and judgmental. I pray, Lord, that You grant me peace in my heart that I may see the best in people. I pray, Lord, that I may be able to control my emotions and thoughts so that I can help others according to Your will. Allow me to be an instrument of Your love and peace. Let me be Your servant, Lord. Amen.
Dear Lord, we thank you and we bless you. I thank you for teaching us how to forgive and providing us mercy during this Lenten season and specially during this jubilee year of mercy. I wish to ask forgiveness for all I’ve hurt during my lifetime. Sins I’ve committed against You Lord, against the Church, against my family and against my neighbor. Please forgive me Lord. Help me to overcome my personal difficulties and help me walk in your ways in order for me to find peace in my life. I ask this in the name of Jesus our Lord and Savior.
Dear Lord, Teach me to forgive those who have betrayed me and have abused my kindness. Please heal me of all hurts and remove the resentment i harbor in my heart. Please remove all ego and instead fill my soul with your boundless mercy and loving grace. May your presence in my life fill me with hope, humility and love. Thank you for showing me the way, guiding me and taking my hand not only in times of personal crisis but every day that i live. May i always be worthy of your love, mercy and light. Amen.
Dear Lord, I pray that you grant me the grace to forgive those who have hurt me. Knowing that you are a forgiving God and that you have loved me unconditionally despite my disobedience at times. Help me dear Lord to be more patient, compassionate and understanding especially to my loved ones and to the last, the least and the lost. Amen.
My Lord, Thank You for reminding me that even if it is hard to forgive those people who have wronged us, You are even more merciful because you forgive without hesitations and questions. I pray that You help me do the same. I pray that you give me the strength to be like You so it won’t be as hard as it is. Amen.
I ask for your forgiveness Lord every time I feel like giving up on life. I ask for strength Lord whenever my depression consumes me and I couldn’t make rational decisions. I ask that when my journey on earth is over, You’ll be there to meet me in heaven. Thank you Lord for staying with me despite my weakness.
Dear Lord, nothing can out-do the PAIN inflicted on You ~ yet, it was so easy for You to Forgive ( and even Forget) … Why cant I be like you ?? Please Help me in this Journey to be as generous in forgiving those who have Painfully HURT ME & CONTINUE TO HURT ME… I ask your Grace to do so & to be Forgiven for my sins. Thank you for your loving Mercy,
I pray for the grace to forgive those who have let me down – family members who have let me down. Not very easy to do but I live them up to you Lord.
Almighty Father,
Thank you for this retreat. I have learned a lot about you and about myself.
Thank you for healing my heart and allowing it to forgive others even those who have not asked for forgiveness.
Please help me discover my purpose in life that I may start fulfilling it for your greater glory. I believe that your plans are greater than mine & all your promises will be fulfilled in the right time.
Please help me to be a blessing to others.
May you continue to guide me and lead me to the right path.
Thank you for always being with me. I love you.
Lord, please help me to become more patient and humble. Guide me that I may not be self righteous and judgemental. Forgive me Lord for the times I have been all these.
Thank you for calling me and allowing me to complete this online retreat. I thank you most specially for the enlightenment and boldness to invite my husband and son to join me yesterday as we did our own veneration of the cross at home.
Father, I pray for the gift of Peace that only you can give especially in times of doubt, despair, confusion, and loneliness. That I may always remember that you are always beside me and will never ever abandon me.
Allow me dear Lord to ask for forgiveness more easily and likewise learn to forgive wholeheartedly. That I may constantly remember what you have gone through, your passion and death for all the sins of the world; that I may stop complaining about the many inconveniences I experience considering the pain and suffering that you had to go through for me.
Lord Jesus, please allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to rekindle in me, that I may be recharged in the mission you have given me, that I may continue to serve you with the zeal and perseverance that was once present. Grant me once again, Lord, the drive and the inspiration to bring more people closer to you. Grant me the genuine love and concern for the people that you have given me to lead.
Thank you for the gift of second chances through your great love and mercy for me.
I am so blessed just to read all the prayers of people I do not know and yet their prayers are mine too. That is surely a grace from God.
Lord, please help me trust in Your plan and rid myself of anxious thoughts. Help me to always find peace of mind in my everyday journey with You.
Lord, please help me be unafraid for what the future may bring and help me remove all resentment from the past. Help me to love like you and to be merciful like you. It is difficult but help me Lord. Thank you my Lord.
Lord I pray that you grant me obedience to Your Holy Will. May You show us the way to whatever service You want us to do. Grant us a cheerful & happy disposition to welcome the service You want us to be in. We continue to pray for discernment for our sons’ chosen paths in life. We pray that we continue to support them in whatever endeavors they will seek to follow as long as they are according to Your will. Thank you so much for this online retreat! We praise You Lord Jesus! ????????????????????????
Lord, help me to forgive those who have hurt me. Help me to let go of all my bitterness and grudges. Being a perfectionist “rule-keeper”, I tend to judge and look down on people who are quite the opposite. I tend to focus more on what is just or fair especially when it comes to my work/career that sometimes I forget to be merciful.
Lord, teach me to be more like you – merciful, loving, patient, gentle, selfless. Amen.
Lord, these days I am so AWARE of you. thank you for really being with me, for being in me. Thank you for making a way for me to be able to be with you during these past 3 days… even as I had to make plans to walk away from you, you made it possible for me to walk to you instead. Thank you for making my wish of a meaningful Lenten recollection come true (thank you also, so much, Fr. J!).
Thank you because even if it seemed like my wish for participating in the Easter Triduum could not have happened, you made it happen, almost seamlessly. we proposed our plans, You disposed of our plans – “man proposes, God disposes.” I did not have to torture myself into making a decision, because You made the decision for me. and willingly, joyfully, I fell into your plan. Thank you for granting the secret little wishes of my heart. I know now more than ever that this is because You love me Lord, so, so much…
Dear Lord, I am excited to run to you this Easter, and I am excited to walk with you everyday from now on; please dearest Lord, make Your desires be my desires, make your paths be mine, may that I never forget to be bright with hope and faith and love for You and for others. and when I am facing temptations, or crises in my life, let me never forget my vow to act in the way you want me to, to live everyday in the way that will bring me closer and closer to you. as difficult as these hellish times may be, let me never lose my faith and hope and trust in You.
help me to be Your disciple, my dearest Lord. this is my greatest wish. Amen.
Lord, I would like to ask for healing for my own brokenness brought about experiences in the past. May I learn to forgive, Lord, those who contributed to this wretchedness of mine. May I love them and show more mercy rather than always think of what they have done to me whenever triggered. Lord, grant me the grace of forgiveness, lead me into a change of heart that I may see more of the beauty that you have created in them rather than their imperfections. May I also learn to not think of the countless times I was hurt, instead be more mindful of the joy, happiness and peace you made me experience. May I learn to dwell on your love, your peace and assurances that I may be able to radiate only Your unconditional love, so that I may contribute love into my family, friends and community. All these, I ask and pray, in Your mighty name. Amen.
Lord Jesus,
Help me to forgive those who have hurt me and those who one way or the other have caused me pain or to become angry or to become cynical … and remind me too Lord of the hurts and aches and disappointments I caused others … to summon the courage and the humility to ask for their forgiveness too.
Help me to love unconditionally as you do love us … to care deeply … to treat others fairly … to be merciful, compassionate and just … to walk the path you ask us to take … to follow you more nearly … to love you more dearly … looking unto Jesus, our hope of glory … day by day … moment by moment … to be a light unto others … to brighten the corner where I am … to shine my lamp and give joy … that others may see you in me … the light of my life …
Help me each day in the autumn of my life … that each leaf that fall … each day that passes is lived for your glory, praise and honor … that when winter comes … when you finally call me … that I’d be joyfully ready to join those who went ahead … and that I may earn that affirmation from you … “Well done, thou good and faithful servant”.
I pray that I do right for my adopted daughter even if she has lied, stole and disrespected me. Remove the resentment from my heart. I love her and I am fearful of what is to become of her if she will not change.
Dear Lord,
Help me to be kind to my sister even if she is not likeable. Please melt her heart that she may realize that life is not all about her and that not all people are taking advantage of her.
Dear Lord help me to understand people , make my mind more open. Teach me to forgive especially those who have hurt me deeply, those who were selfish in their actions. I also pray for people who are currently hurting others to be more sensitive and sensible. Make them understand, make them open their minds and hearts to You.
Help me to forgive and be objective in making decisions . Hold my hand each day in order for me not to be angry at the person but the circumstance.
Lord thank you for teaching us how to be humble. Forgiving. Caring . loving. Amen.
Being someone with much patience it makes me so unforgiving once you have overstepped your boundaries with me… Especially when I think and know I am right it turns me into a different person… Lord pls help me to be like you. With boundless mercy towards people around me… I have been hurt repeatedly by someone I love and I know it’s only through your grace I remain alive through all that pain. Yet forgiveness despite your grace is so difficult… I know what to do but putting my knowledge into action is the hard part! But I know it will come in due time! And I know this is the start…
Please give me the grace to forgive myself, and in so doing, be able to forgive all who have hurt me.
Lord, please continue to remind me that if I find it difficult to forgive people who hurt me, you are always around to listen to me, pardon my recurring sins and give untiringly spiritual direction to my life through your priests in the sacrament of reconciliation.
Lord Jesus, I’m a person who is very sensitive, in other words, I easily get hurt and when it happens, I can also easily bear grudges. I Ask for the grace to be strong and and to be courageous enough to be not very sensitive and to forgive and not bear grudges to any one who has not even intended to hurt me with their ways and actions. Maybe, they are like that because of their woundedness also.
I ask for the grace to be more like Christ… merciful, forgiving and loving. I know that he is healing me. I feel challenged to change, to let go and to let him have his way in my life. Seeing my own deep woundedness and how I can carry my wounds with me for so long without seeing them for what they are, I see all around me people who carry deep wounds too. Lord, only you can heal us and make us whole again. Please Lord, give us the strength we need to let go.
Lord, forgive me for all my sins. Please open my heart and mind to forgiveness. Amen.
Forgive me, Lord! Let my heart be like yours.
Lord Jesus Christ, I trust in you and forgive me to all my sins and guide me to forgive others who hurts me. May this Holy Week experience reminds me always. Amen.
I pray for Your grace that I may forgive and humble myself to those who have hurt me.
I wish I could be like John. But I felt more like Peter- feeling shame after his 3 denials. In the face of such pure and unconditional love, I tremble in shame and unworthiness. What have I done to deserve your love?
I am guilty of being a perfectionist – doing what is in the rules, what is right and trying to prove everyone is wrong. I focus on justice and not on mercy. I would rather be right than lovable. How ironic that I who is in great need of mercy is unable to be merciful. I have closed my door/heart to those who have hurt me, those who have betrayed me, those who rejected me. I desire your mercy. I praye for the grace of forgiveness and healing. I desire to open my heart again.
Lord thank you for your love. I know it will be very difficult for me but I will try to be as merciful as you, one day at a time.
Lord I am not worthy to receive your love but only say the work and I shall be healed.
Dear Lord, Please help me to forget what a friend said and to stop thinking about how hurt I was when she said it, how insensitive she was and how dare she not to acknowledge her mistake and ask for forgiveness. Help me to forgive without waiting for her to ask for forgiveness.
Most of all help me to stop feeling so self-righteous about this incident and many other things in my life. Help me to stop justifying the way I treat others because of things that they do, etc… Help me to see you in them.
Help me to see my brokenness. Please heal my brokenness.
Thank you for not giving up on me.
Living in a void became my way of living. Too cold, too lonely. Alone and suffering. Would it be too pricey to beg for a little warmth this Easter?
I am sorry for the hurt I caused to everyone. Please forgive me Lord.
Jesus, help me overcome my daily struggles with my addictions…
Help me choose to follow You instead of giving in to my selfish behaviors…
Help me forgive others who hurt me…
Help me see the good in others…
Help me serve others…
Thank You, Jesus,
For teaching us
Forgiveness, mercy and peace.
For others, they are reminded by those
People or experiences that have hurt them
For me, I was reminded of all the
People that I have hurt.
May I be able to ask forgiveness
So I may have peace.
Dear Lord, Thank you for bringing me in this retreat once more. I have come to terms with myself again and realized that there is so much to be fixed in my life. And even when I have let you down so countless times, You still open the door of your heart to mend my brokenness, my weaknesses, my inadequacies through Your Infinite Mercy. Lord, please teach me to be more humble, to be more patient and to be more ” controlled” with my emotions. Remind me each day that we are all equal in your sight and I should never treat each one differently for beyond the degrees that we hold, the numerous credentials we bring with us, there is a God who judge us not according to our material our physical merits but rather on the WAY WE LIVE OUR LIFE here on earth. Thank you, Lord. I know in time, I will be shaped and moulded according to the person you want me to be, that’s why I need my family, my loved ones, my friends, people who know you deeply (priest, nuns) and most especially YOU to SAVE me from the wretchedness of hell and be one with You in HEAVEN.
Thank you for this reminder. Forgiveness may seem easy to do but hard specially if we feel that we are right. We need to continually ask for mercy and compassion coupled with humility so that we may learn to forgive with our heart.
When one forgives, only then can real Easter joy enter into one’s heart. Thank you for reminding us to seek out the lost coins in our lives, those who to us may seem insignificant, but in the eyes of God we are all found to be of worth to Him.
I am coming from a failed relationship. I am moving on but now I realize that to be able to do so i must forgive that person for causing me to hurt this way. Thank you for showing me the meaning of this Holy week and EASTER.
Thank you for reminding me to forgive. I need to forgive my ex husband for all the hurts.