“I’m still meditating on 1 Corinthians 13. One of the elements that especially challenges me is, “Love does not keep a record of wrongs.” It’s easier to forgive than to forget. And how often past memories invade the present and tempt one to rehash a wrong, fan it into flames, and form it into a grudge as weighty as the Washington Monument.
…
“Blame seems to me to be the fundamental cause for keeping a record of wrongs. Pointing the finger at others can make it easy to ignore our own faults. We can just keep running down the list seeing the splinter in the other person’s eye while ignoring the beam in our own.
“This Advent I want to stop blaming and start thanking. I wrote several thank you letters on Thanksgiving Day and I want to do that frequently during Advent. How many graces I’ve received from others. I want to thank them for it. I don’t want to focus on the hurtful events in my life. What good is that? Besides, when others hurt us they offer us a great opportunity to be united to the cross of Christ, and help make up what’s lacking in His suffering as St. Paul says. It took me a long time to figure out what Paul meant. How could anything be lacking in the passion and suffering of Christ? The answer is simple: our cooperation in Christ’s passion by our complete submission to the Divine Will by embracing our own sufferings — not just accepting them, but kissing them like Christ kissed His cross.
“St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, apostle of the Sacred Heart, suffered a lot from the time she was a child. Instead of blaming those who persecuted her, she excused them, forgave them in her heart, and saw them as a means to holiness. What a great blessing if I can learn to do the same thing. It seems impossible, but Jesus promises that “My grace is sufficient for you.” So I’m confident that when Christmas arrives I will find in my stocking a little more patience, a little more kindness, a little more gratitude, and a blank “record of wrongs” list…”
https://lesfemmes-thetruth.blogspot.com/2024/12/sunday-meditation-love-does-not-keep.html