Forgiveness comes naturally for someone with a converted heart, says Argentinean bishop

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Feb 23, 2007 / 09:31 am

Bishop Marcelo Martorell of Puerto Iguazu said this week, “Jesus speaks to us of forgiveness, not as a heroic act of the saints, but as an act that should come naturally for someone with a converted heart.”

The bishop said Christians enlightened by the Gospel should stand in contrast to sinners in the area of charity and forgiveness “because the Lord demands of us true conversion, which makes us see mankind and life in a distinct way.”

“To him that strikes you on one cheek, give him the other. Give to all who ask of you.  Even if sometimes we cannot follow these words to the letter, we must capture the profound meaning that the Lord wants to give them, which is to abstain from taking vengeance for offenses, to be ready to do good to anyone and to give as much as possible, even more than what is due,” the bishop said.

Bishop Martorell noted that the Lord “wants us to practice a greater justice animated by the love of Him who came to teach us, being the first to practice it, giving his life for a rebellious and ungrateful people, dying for us when we were still sinners.”

“Often we are not capable of understanding nor of living his teaching,” he continued, “because in order to do so we must be born again in Christ, putting on Him, being born of a new life, which leads us away from every kind of selfishness, which encloses us in on ourselves and makes us vulnerable to every kind of offense.”