{"id":97726,"date":"2023-07-19T07:30:52","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T06:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spaziospadoni.org\/?p=97726"},"modified":"2026-09-29T22:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T21:01:14","slug":"forgiving-offenses-the-biblical-heart-of-the-fifth-work-of-mercy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spaziospadoni.org\/en\/forgiving-offenses-the-biblical-heart-of-the-fifth-work-of-mercy\/","title":{"rendered":"Forgiving offenses: the biblical heart of the fifth Work of Mercy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 id=\"the-works-of-mercy-through-the-eyes-of-a-biblist\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Works of Mercy through the eyes of a biblist<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A two-week gathering is currently taking place in Lucca, aimed at building useful tools for the dissemination of the Works of Mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks to the contribution of biblist Carlo Miglietta, we continue our analysis of these deeds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fifth spiritual Work of Mercy is \u201cto forgive offenses\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biblist points out that whoever performs this work resembles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>God:<\/strong> \u201cThe Lord, a God merciful and gracious\u201d (Ex 34:6; Ps 100:5; 136; Eph 2:4); \u201cYou are a God ready to forgive\u201d (Neh 9:17); \u201cHe forgives all your iniquity\u201d (Ps 103:3); \u201cWho is a God like you, pardoning iniquity\u2026, because he delights in mercy?\u201d (Mic 7:18); \u201cI blot out your transgressions\u2026, and I will not remember your sins!\u201d (Is 25:7; cf. Jer 31:34); \u201cAs far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us\u201d (Ps 103:12); \u201cGod\u2026 will tread our iniquities underfoot, and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea\u201d (Mic 7:19); \u201cThough your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool\u201d (Is 1:18); \u201cI have swept away your transgressions like a cloud\u201d (Is 44:22).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jesus:<\/strong> \u201cWoman, has no one condemned you? Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again!\u201d (Jn 8:10-11); \u201cJesus\u2026 said to the paralytic, \u2018Your sins are forgiven\u2019\u201d (Mk 2:5-12); \u201cGod demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us\u201d (Rom 5:6-8); \u201cI came not to call the righteous, but sinners\u201d (Mt 9:13); \u201cI did not come to judge the world but to save the world\u201d (Jn 12:47); \u201cThat I should lose nothing of all that the Father has given me\u201d (Jn 6:39); \u201cThe Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost\u201d (Lk 19:10); regarding His crucifiers, Jesus says: \u201cFather, forgive them, for they know not what they do\u201d (Lk 23:34).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Joseph<\/strong>, son of Jacob, who was sold by his brothers and yet forgave them (Gen 45:5).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biblist also reminds us that whoever forgives offenses listens to the Word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here are a few excerpts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cForgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray. Does anyone harbor anger against another, and expect healing from the Lord?\u201d (Sir 28:2-5; cf. Mt 18:23-35).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cAnd whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses\u201d (Mk 11:25; cf. Mt 6:14; Lk 6:37).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cAnd forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us\u201d (Lk 11:4).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201c\u2018Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?\u2019 Jesus said to him, \u2018I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven\u2019\u201d (Mt 18:22; cf. Lk 17:4).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cForgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you\u201d (Eph 4:31-5:2).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The biblist leaves us at the conclusion of this work with a challenging question: do we know how to be \u201cfishers of men\u201d (Mk 1:17), recognizing those who know how to forgive offenses and proclaiming to them the beatitude of Mercy: \u201cBlessed are the merciful\u201d (Mt 5:7)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"mercy\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mercy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The primary Hebrew word used to designate mercy is <em>rehamin<\/em>, which properly refers to the viscera, the seat of emotions, our \u201cheart\u201d: it is a plural form of <em>r\u00e9h\u00e8m<\/em>, the maternal womb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is the spontaneous affection that stems from the bond of fatherhood, motherhood, or brotherhood: \u201cJoseph hurried out, for his heart yearned for his brother, and he was on the verge of tears\u201d (Gen 43:30).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Apostolic Letter \u201cMisericordia et misera\u201d, at the conclusion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, Pope Francis writes: \u201cWe are called to promote a culture of mercy based on the rediscovery of encounter with others, a culture in which no one looks at another with indifference or turns away from the suffering of our brothers and sisters. The works of mercy are \u2018handcrafted\u2019, in the sense that none of them is alike. Our hands can craft them in a thousand ways, and even though the God who inspires them is one, and the \u2018matter\u2019 of which they are made is one\u2014mercy itself\u2014each takes on a different form.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/it\/foto\/due-persone-che-allungano-le-mani-per-toccarsi-B8vFeqcy5gY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" title=\"Photo by Jason Leung\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0Unsplash\">Photo by Jason Leung\u00a0&#8211;\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/spaziospadoni.org\/en\/pro-misericordia\/?dflip=49808#flipbook-df_49808\/1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" title=\"Carlo Miglietta \u2013 The Works of Mercy\">Carlo Miglietta \u2013 The Works of Mercy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Works of Mercy through the eyes of a biblist A two-week gathering is currently taking place in Lucca, aimed at building useful tools for the dissemination of the Works of Mercy. Thanks to the contribution of biblist Carlo Miglietta, we continue our analysis of these deeds. The fifth spiritual Work of Mercy is \u201cto &#8230; <a title=\"Forgiving offenses: the biblical heart of the fifth Work of Mercy\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/spaziospadoni.org\/en\/forgiving-offenses-the-biblical-heart-of-the-fifth-work-of-mercy\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Forgiving offenses: the biblical heart of the fifth Work of Mercy\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":97725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","ss_featured_image_title":"","ss_featured_image_alt":"Two people reconciling after an act of forgiveness.","ss_featured_image_caption":"Forgiving means choosing not to let an offence have the final word.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2387],"tags":[10943,2651,3171],"class_list":["post-97726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentaries-on-the-works-of-mercy","tag-forgive-offences","tag-jesus","tag-re-evolution","infinite-scroll-item","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Forgiving offenses: the fifth spiritual Work of Mercy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Discover the biblical meaning of forgiving offenses, fifth spiritual Work of Mercy, with an in-depth analysis by biblist Carlo Miglietta.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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