Forgiveness

The attacks on September 11, 2001 were the worst attacks in America's history. Many families were affected by the attacks on September 11. My mom's family is from New York City. Even though none of my family members were harmed during the attacks, each member of my family has his or her own eerie account of the happenings on September 11, 2001. Osama Bin Laden was responsible for these attacks that forever changed our nation Even though the decision to forgive Osama Bin Laden may be extremely hard, we as Catholics must decide to forgive him. Catholics are called by God to forgive everyone even their enemies. These enemies even include those who deliberately killed thousands of innocent Americans.

Forgiveness can be one of the hardest gifts to give. Jesus has called us to forgive everyone even our enemies. In the Bible we ask Jesus to forgive us and say, "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Matthew 6:12). God tells us to forgive our "debtors". Our "debtors" are those who have harmed us in our lives. If we do not forgive our "debtors", God will not fully forgive us from all of our sins.

We are always called to forgive. Forgiveness is at the center of all of God's teaching. Although we all may struggle to forgive, we must realize that without forgiveness we are not whole. Forgiveness allows each of us to feel complete. Forgiveness lives in the Christian story everyday. It remains as the epitome of God's message to love and be loved. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves. Each of us want to be forgiven of all the wrong things that we have done by God and others. If we truly accept God's forgiveness for our wrongdoings, we then can truly forgive others for their wrongdoings.

Even though the attacks on September 11, 2001 killed many Americans and tore apart many families, we are still called to forgive those who launched the attack. If we can embrace the need to forgive all people, we can in turn be truly forgiven by God.