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Forgive seventy times seven times – until offenses don't
bother us!
Malba Tahan narrates1 – with rare
beauty – the encounter between a merchant and an old
Arab that caught his attention: he spoke agitatedly,
gesticulating, without ceasing. And he exclaimed:
“– O Muslims! I was once powerful! I already had Fate in
this hand!”
He felt an irresistible attraction to him, gained his
trust and sought to listen to him.
The poor old man told him that the caravanners took him
for a madman. And they didn't believe in him. And he
told him his story:
“According to the Koran – the book of Allah – the life
of all of us is written – Maktub! – Each man has his
page there with everything good or bad that will happen
to him.
All events that occur on Earth, from the falling of a
dry leaf to the death of a caliph, are fatally written
in the Book of Destiny.”
And he went on:
“I saved him from the hands of a merciless old sorcerer
sheikh.
Grateful, he gave me a very rare talisman with a black
heart-shaped stone found in the tomb of a Muslim saint.
This wonderful stone allowed entry into the famous
Grotto of Fatality, where the book of Destiny is
found.”
After traveling for many years, he arrived at the
enchanted grotto.
“A kind genius, sentry at the door, let me in.
He warned me that I would remain in the cave for a few
minutes.
It would change the page of my life and make me a rich
and happy man.
He would write with the quill he brought:
– He Will be a happy man, esteemed by all. He will have
a lot of health and a lot of money.
But I remembered my enemies: he could do them all great
harm!
Moved by feelings of hatred and revenge, I opened the
page of Ali Ben-Homed, the merchant.
I read what was going to happen to him and added below,
without hesitation, in an impulse of rancor:
– He will die poor, suffering enormous torments.
On Sheikh El Abari's page:
– He will lose all possessions. He will go blind and die
of hunger and thirst in the desert!
So, without mercy, I was hurting all my enemies! "
The merchant, anxious, asks him:
– And in your life? What have you done, caravanner, on
the page in which Fate dedicated to your own life?
“– Ah, my friend, I did nothing in my favor. Concerned
with doing harm to others, I forgot to do good to
myself.
I have sowed misfortune and pain widely. I didn't reap,
however, the smallest portion of happiness!
When I remembered myself, when I thought about making my
life happy, my time had ended.
Without expecting it, a fierce genius appeared before
me. He gripped me tightly and, after snatching the
talisman from my hands, he threw me out of the cave.
I fell among the stones and, with the violence of the
shock, I lost consciousness.
When I came to my senses, I found myself wounded and
hungry, far from the cave, in an oasis in the desert of
Oman.
Without the precious talisman, I could never find the
way to the enchanted grotto again!
So I lost the only opportunity I had to be rich,
esteemed and happy!”
[Note: The Spiritist Doctrine does not have this
concept of fatality.]
The passage on Earth is temporary, like the time of the
old Arab, in the cave of fate.
For our real benefit, the practice of good must be
constant, eliminating from the heart every feeling
contrary to love. Small, generous actions will benefit
us now and in the future. After all, life is made up of
successions of moments. They are all important.
-.-
Teachings of Jesus:
“If your brother has sinned against you, go and make him
feel his fault in private, alone with him; if he attends
you, you will have won your brother.
Peter said to him, 'Lord, how many times will I forgive
my brother when he has sinned against me? Up to seven
times?
Jesus answered him, "I do not say to you that you
forgive up to seven times, but up to seventy times
seven times." Mt, 18-15, 21 and 22.
To forgive unlimitedly:
Sunday Prayer: "Forgive, Father, our debts, as we
forgive our debtors." Mt-6, 9:12
We ask for full forgiveness, but we deny forgiveness for
insignificant things. In prayers there are commitments,
not fulfilled in practice. And what counts is the
practice. Words are not enough.
Not reacting to the bad actions of others, but acting
generously, without getting involved in the imbalance of
those who attack us.
The response to Peter is a lesson for all of us and is
permanent.
One day, we won't need to forgive, because we'll learn
not to offend ourselves.
Forgive not with contempt, with an air of superiority.
See the aggressor as a sick person, in need of help, of
compassion. With this posture, the feeling that used to
be intolerance, hatred, will turn into compassion, if we
apply the lesson recommended by Jesus.
It is important to see the other, at the level of
evolution they are at. By doing so, we will achieve
constant peace, courage, inner joy, faith, energy to
love and serve:
– No complaints;
– No censorship;
– Without throwing back stones.
Use our energies positively, for good, even if the other
is ungrateful; and apparently he doesn't deserve our
forgiveness! He is the neediest!
It's not easy, but there is no other way for us to
evolve.
The Gospel According to Spiritism prescribes:
“You will forgive, but unlimitedly; you will forgive
every offense as often as it is done to you; you will
teach your brothers that self-forgetfulness, which makes
a creature invulnerable to attack, wrongdoing, and
injury; thou shalt be gentle and humble in heart, not
measuring thy gentleness. (...)
Forgive, be forgiving, be charitable, generous, lavish
even with your love. (...)
(...) forgive, the Lord will forgive you. (...)
(...) Happy, therefore, is he who can sleep every night,
saying:
I have nothing against my neighbor.” –
ESS - X, 14.
“Woe to him who says, 'I will never forgive', for he
pronounces his own condemnation. (...)
There is the forgiveness of the lips and the forgiveness
of the heart.” –
ESS, X, 15
– Rejoice in the evil that comes to the opponent;
– Forgive but not reconcile if there is an opportunity;
– Not wanting to see him again.
"Is this forgiveness according to the Gospel?"
Real:
– “It is the one who casts a veil over the past.”
– Forgiveness with forgetting the offense, according to
the law of love.
The Gospel asks us: what if we were the ones who started
it all?
Or that we made the evil grow, with our aggressive
reactions?
"True forgiveness is recognized much more by actions
than by words." – ESS, X, 15.-
“The Book of Spirits” (2):
“Jesus also said: Love even your enemies.
Now, will not love for enemies be contrary to our
natural tendencies and will not enmity come from the
lack of sympathy among the Spirits?
“Without a doubt one cannot have a tender and passionate
love for enemies. That's not what Jesus meant. To love
enemies is to forgive them and return good to them for
evil. In doing so, we make ourselves superior to them,
while by revenge we place ourselves below them.” (Q.
887)
Don't deceive God. He knows what is in our soul, in our
heart, in our thoughts.
Benefits of forgiveness:
“When we like ourselves, we don't allow others to
control our emotions. Forgiveness is the way to do
that.” Wayne
W. Dyer
“You can give and receive forgiveness. You can free
yourself from addictions, attachments and angers – that
is, from any baggage you don't want to take to a place
where everything is light.” (3)
“To forgive is ceasing to be angry, to cherish
resentments.
It is also giving: in forgiving, we give understanding,
patience, comprehension and the love that purifies.
Forgiveness is for the giver, not the receiver.
Those who forgive remove from themselves, their hearts
and souls, any negative feelings that involve hatred,
hurt or desire for revenge.
Whoever forgives, forgives himself.” Octavio
Caumo Serrano
In the entire Universe, two feelings bring us together:
Love or Hate. The first, brings freedom and peace; the
second, secular pains.
We have had numerous proofs of this, in mediumistic
meetings, for over thirty years!
Beautiful examples of full forgiveness:
– Jesus, at the extreme:
"Father, forgive them, because they don't know what
they do." Lk, 23:34
– “Thank God, I don't remember having retaliated the
slightest offense I suffered, certainly aiming, all of
them, my learning. And I don't remember that I
consciously hurt anyone.” Chico Xavier
– In the movie ‘Um Canto de Esperanca’ (A Song of
Hope) there is a dialogue between two actresses, in
front of the executioners:
“– Don't you hate them?! Why not?
– I tried, but I can't hate people. The worse they
behave, the more I feel sorry for them.”
True love is allied with compassion.
We have to learn to love like that, but we act like the
old caravanner: we misuse our time on Earth, and we can,
at all times, rewrite our destiny, with the constant
practice of good.
Forgiveness seventy times seven times – until offenses
don't bother us!
References:
1 – TAHAN, Malba. Oriental
Tales and Legends:
“The Book of Fate and Rancor”, (Julio Cesar de Melo e
Sousa) Malba Tahan - Ref., July/91, p. 198.
2 – KARDEC, Allan. The Book of Spirits. Trans.
Evandro Noleto Bezerra. 2nd ed. 1st print
Rio de Janeiro: FEB, 2011, q. 887, p. 533.
3 – RITCHIE, George G. and Elisabeth
Sherrill. Back from Tomorrow. Trans. Gilberto
Campista Guarino. Rio
de Janeiro: Nordic, 1980, p.114.
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