Let there always be in the seasons of our lives a time for forgiveness -- for such is being human that we do unto others, as they do unto us, that which needs to be forgiven.

There is a saying that "It's easier to forgive our enemies after we've gotten even with them." But is that in truth forgiveness?

When we respond to hurt by hurting, to insult by insulting, to indignity by degrading -- when we respond in kind, are we not merely adding hate and darkness to a world that needs love and light? Are we not keeping open the wound in ourselves by inflicting a wound in another?

To heal we must forgive. We must gather strength, and insight, and compassion, and kindness, and love, and forgive.

Let us forgive those who wrong us and do not know any better, and those who wrong us and know well what they do. Let us forgive the insensitive and the angry, the deceitful and the exploitative, the arrogant, and the insecure. Let us forgive all who do not want peace in this world. Let us forgive all who do not wish to be forgiven. And let us forgive ourselves, for it is with ourselves that we are often the most unforgiving.

Let us, in this spirit of forgiveness, gather all that we can of strength, and insight, and compassion, and kindness, and love, and purify our hearts and minds that the spirit of forgiveness may shape the days of our lives beginning with this moment.