St. Catherine of Siena, Laguna Beach

3 hours ago

✝️ WHY WE MUST FORGIVE, EVEN WHEN IT HURTS THE MOST😳🤔
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Forgiveness sounds beautiful, until it hurts.

Until the wound is deep.
Until the betrayal is real.
Until the apology never comes.

That is when Jesus’ command to forgive stops being poetry
and becomes a cross.

Let’s enter this slowly, biblically, and honestly.

✝️1. JESUS NEVER COMMANDED EASY FORGIVENESS

Jesus did not say:

“Forgive when it is convenient.”

He said:

“Love your enemies.” (Matthew 5:44)

“Forgive seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:22)

This was not advice. It was a way of life shaped by the Cross.

Jesus knew forgiveness would hurt. That is precisely why it saves.

✝️2. FORGIVENESS IS NOT DENIAL OF PAIN

The Bible never tells us to pretend the wound did not happen.

Jesus forgave with wounds still visible. After the Resurrection, the scars remained.

Forgiveness says:

“What you did was wrong.
But I refuse to let it rule my soul.”

Pain acknowledged is not weakness. It is honesty.

✝️3. THE OLD TESTAMENT ALREADY POINTED TO THIS

Joseph is betrayed by his brothers. Sold into slavery. Forgotten in prison.

Years later, he stands over them with power to destroy them, and says:

“You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” (Genesis 50:20)

Joseph did not excuse the evil. He handed it over to God.

That is biblical forgiveness.

✝️4. JESUS FORGAVE BEFORE REPENTANCE

This shocks many people.

On the Cross, Jesus says:

“Father, forgive them.” (Luke 23:34)

The soldiers had not apologized. The crowd had not repented. The wounds were still open.

Forgiveness does not wait for permission. It flows from the heart of God.

✝️5. WHY UNFORGIVENESS IMPRISONS US

Jesus is brutally clear:

“If you do not forgive others… neither will your Father forgive you.” (Matthew 6:15)

Not because God is cruel, but because an unforgiving heart cannot receive mercy.

Unforgiveness:

Keeps the wound alive

Gives the offender permanent control

Turns pain into poison

Forgiveness breaks the chain.

✝️6. FORGIVENESS IS NOT RECONCILIATION

This matters.

Forgiveness is internal. Reconciliation is mutual.

You can forgive:

without trusting again

without restoring access

without pretending nothing happened

Jesus forgave Judas, but did not stop the betrayal.

Forgiveness heals the heart. Wisdom protects it.

✝️7. FORGIVENESS IS PARTICIPATION IN THE CROSS

When forgiveness hurts, you are close to Christ.

Because forgiveness always costs the innocent something.

Every time you forgive:

you choose love over revenge

freedom over bitterness

resurrection over death

This is why saints forgive heroically. They know the Cross leads somewhere.

✝️ FINAL WORD

Forgiveness is not weakness. It is crucified strength.

It does not erase the past. It redeems it.

When you forgive even while hurting, you step out of the prison of pain and into the freedom of Christ.

That is not human logic. That is the Gospel.

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St. Catherine of Siena, Laguna Beach

4 hours ago

✝️ WHY THE PHARISEES FEARED FAITH MORE THAN SIN😳🤔
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The Pharisees were not afraid of sin.
They were afraid of faith.

That sounds strange, until you read the Gospels carefully.

Jesus did not clash with them because they loved holiness too much.
He clashed with them because faith threatened their control.

Let’s walk through this slowly, biblically, and honestly.

✝️1. THE PHARISEES WERE NOT EVIL, THEY WERE RELIGIOUS

This matters.

The Pharisees were serious about the Law. They fasted. They prayed. They studied Scripture.

Jesus Himself acknowledges their authority:

“The scribes and Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.” (Matthew 23:2)

Their problem was not devotion. It was what devotion had become.

✝️2. SIN COULD BE MANAGED, FAITH COULD NOT

Sin had rules.

If you sinned:

Offer sacrifice

Observe purification

Follow procedure

Everything was structured, measurable, controllable.

But faith?

Faith meant:

Trust over certainty

Mercy over ritual

God acting beyond human systems

That terrified them.

Because faith places God, not religion, at the center.

✝️3. JESUS FORGAVE SIN WITHOUT PERMISSION

This was the breaking point.

When Jesus said:

“Your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5)

The Pharisees were not offended by mercy. They were offended by authority.

Only God forgives sins. And Jesus was doing it outside their system.

Faith bypassed their control.

✝️4. THE SABBATH EXPOSED THEIR FEAR

Jesus healed on the Sabbath.

Not secretly. Not accidentally. Openly.

Why?

Because the Sabbath had become a symbol of power.

Faith asks:

“What does God desire now?”

Legalism asks:

“What is allowed?”

So when Jesus healed, they did not rejoice. They plotted.

“They watched Him closely.” (Mark 3:2)

Faith disrupted order. That was unforgivable.

✝️5. THE OLD TESTAMENT WARNED ABOUT THIS

The prophets saw it coming.

“This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13)

“I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” (Hosea 6:6)

Jesus quotes these texts against the Pharisees.

They knew the words. They feared the meaning.

✝️6. FAITH THREATENS RELIGIOUS STATUS

Faith levels the ground.

The sinner who believes stands next to the scholar who studies.

The tax collector who repents leaves justified, not the Pharisee who boasts. (Luke 18:9–14)

Faith makes room for grace. Grace removes privilege.

That is dangerous to anyone invested in hierarchy without humility.

✝️7. THIS IS NOT JUST ABOUT THEM, IT IS ABOUT US

The Pharisees are not only in history. They are a warning.

Whenever:

Rules replace relationship

Knowledge replaces love

Control replaces trust

Faith becomes threatening again.

And sin starts to feel safer than surrender.

✝️ FINAL WORD

The Pharisees feared faith because faith makes God uncontrollable.

Sin can be regulated. Faith cannot.

That is why Jesus was crucified, not for breaking the Law, but for fulfilling it in a way that exposed hearts.

The question remains:

Do we want a God we can manage, or a God we must trust?

That question still decides everything.

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St. Catherine of Siena, Laguna Beach

4 hours ago

Saint Anthony's daily calendar🙏
Our greetings from the Basilica of St. Anthony of Padua.
Peace and all good❤
𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝑨𝒏𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒏𝒚. ... See MoreSee Less