Christ's indwelling presence has freed us from exclusive orientation toward ourselves and opened us up in two directions: toward God, to receive the good things in faith, and toward our neighbor, to pass them on in love.

We lead our lives well when we love God with our whole being and when we love neighbors as we (properly) love ourselves.

We will not "forget" so as to be able to rejoice; we will rejoice and therefore let those memories (of wrongs suffered) slip out of our minds!

The significance of the crucifixion is not only what God does for us; consistently throughout the New Testament the crucifixion is portrayed as the pattern that we are to follow. It is a model of social behavior toward the other as well as a statement about what God has done for us.

Forgiveness flounders because I exclude the enemy from the community of humans and myself from the community of sinners.

If we can exit a relationship, pressure to reconcile lessens; if we must live with those who have wronged us, we are pushed to reconcile.

Whatever the reasons, when forgiveness happens it is always a miracle of grace. The obstacles in its way are immense