Saturday, September 10, 2011

Like breathing

It seems appropriate that tomorrow our Gospel centers on forgiveness.  9-11 is one of those occasions seared into our minds and hearts as a nation.  Everyone has a story around it.  We remember anniversaries in ones and fives and tens.  This is ten.  Forgiveness takes practice.

Forgiveness takes practice,
A lot of practice,
So much practice that it is necessary
To completely lose track
Of where you are
In numbers
In occasions
Even
In geography.
So much practice until it becomes
Like your lungs
Taking in air
Breathing as if on their own.
We do not have to practice breathing.
We have been doing it
Since birth.

Forgiveness takes practice
Again and again and again
Seventy times seven
Then
Seventy times seven
Again
Practice until
Just like when we come up for air
The breath fills our lungs
And we go on
With the very next breath
Without a thought.
After all
We have been doing it
Our whole lives.
We have practiced it
Our whole lives
Just like seventy times seven
We are invited
To continue the practice
Like breathing.

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