Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:21-22)
Really, how can Jesus expect us to forgive someone seventy-seven times? It’s one thing when the offense is 
something like yawning with an open mouth or forgetting to take out the garbage. What if it’s more serious, something like talking over us or questioning decisions we make, over and over again? What if it’s more serious still—physically injuring us or someone we love, especially when the person shows no sense of remorse or regret.
Consider the case of Elizabeth Canori, born to a wealthy Roman family in 1774. Her future seemed bright; she and Christopher Mora, an attorney from a family like Elizabeth’s, fell in love and married when Elizabeth was twenty-three. But that bright future threatened to turn to ash. Christopher took on a mistress. He started gambling and drinking heavily, and stopped working. The money was soon gone… and Elizabeth became responsible for rearing their two daughters.
Christopher became emotionally and on at least one occasion physically abusive. Almost everyone told Elizabeth to end the marriage. But God had told her that He desired to save Christopher through her. So Elizabeth prayed for him, and urged the girls to do the same. She sold her finery, including her wedding dress, and still found a bit of money to help the poor and sick and became a lay Trinitarian, with one of her ministries being to counsel troubled husbands and wives.
On one occasions, she told him he would celebrate Mass for her, certainly a thought that amused him.
Christopher was with his mistress when Elizabeth died in 1825. But he began going to church again shortly thereafter and eventually became a Franciscan priest. Elizabeth was beatified in 1994 by John Paul II.
I think about all the forgiveness Elizabeth showed Christopher and all the confidence in the Lord she exhibited and I think, the things I’m asked to forgive are pretty easy indeed. I pray that should I ever face such a situation, one in which people might call me a patsy or doormat, that I embrace God’s desire just as completely as she did.
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