"Forgive and you will be forgiven." --Luke 6:37

This reflects the Our Father, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Whenever I say this prayer, I add in a personal "And please help me to forgive!!" This can be a scary truth when we think about how often we do not forgive others. Especially when we realize that it says "those who trespass against us"-- not those who have trespassed, but those who trespass, present tense. This means those who have not asked for forgiveness, those who are still hurting us! What Jesus is asking us to do in this verse from Luke is a divine forgiveness, one that we can only achieve if we open ourselves to God in prayer, and ask Him to take away our anger, hurt and resentment. But He can only take it away if we truly desire Him to, because He respects our free will. Sometimes we must begin by asking God to give us the desire to forgive! But He will always answer, and desires us to relinquish these burdens to Him, that He may forgive us our trespasses and unite us to Him in heaven.