Building the Kingdom with Glue & Forgiveness

 

James S. Hewett once gave an apt example of people not getting the respect they deserve. Especially young people. He tells about his son, who was using one of those super-adhesive glues on a model airplane he was building.

 

"In less than three minutes," says James Hewett, "his right index finger was bonded to a shiny blue wing of his DC-10. He tried to free it. He tugged it, pulled it, waved it frantically, but he couldn't budge his finger free." Soon, they located a solvent that did the job and ended their moment of crisis. 

 

Then James Hewitt writes this: "Last night I remembered that scene when I visited a new family in our neighborhood. The father of the family introduced his children: 'This is Pete. He's the clumsy one of the lot.' 'That's Kathy coming in with mud on her shoes. She's the sloppy one.' 'As always, Mike is last. He'll be late for his own funeral, I promise you.'"

 

James Hewett goes on to say, "The dad did a thorough job of gluing his children to their faults and mistakes. People do it to us all the time. They remind us of our failures, our errors, our sins, and they won't let us live them down. Like my son trying frantically to free his finger from the plane, there are people who try, sometimes desperately, to free themselves from their past.

 

They would love a chance to begin again. When we don't let people forget their past, when we don't forgive, we glue them to their mistakes and refuse to see them as more than something they have done….”

[King Duncan, Collected Sermons.Com, Glued to Our Faults, July 4, 2021]

 

Forgiveness is the life blood of growth for each one of us, the gift of offering Forgiveness is transforming.  The acceptance of Forgiveness offered is transforming.  Forgiveness not offered or not accepted is one of the saddest events in human suffering.  Finding the good in each person is exhausting work, but it is the foundation work of building the Kingdom of God, and it is often built on Forgiveness.

 

St. Joseph pray for us. 

St. Francis de Sales pray for us. 

May God Be Praised.