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 times seven.” Matthew 18:21-22

Forgiveness is not simply a one-time action or an isolated feeling or thought. Rather, the Christian practice of forgiveness involves us in a whole way of life, a way that is shaped by an ever-deepening friendship with God and with other people. Practicing forgiveness in not only, or even primarily, a way of dealing with guilt or anger, instead, its central goal is to reconcile, to restore communion – with God, with one another, and with the whole creation. Forgiveness calls us to willingly do things with and for one another so that communion can be restored. If we don’t forgive one another how can we accept the forgiveness that God so freely offers to each of us?