Your Sacred Spaces

People today find it hard to say “I am sorry.”

In a culture that gives emphasis on strength and machismo, apologizing is oftentimes seen as a sign of weakness.

In a culture that promotes political correctness, apologizing can be seen as a sign of vulnerability and of emotion.

People simply do not say “I am sorry” because they thought forgiveness is given.

While this is true in some areas, there are people who appreciate it the most when apologies are articulated and stated.

That being said, apologies must become requirements to relationships of all kinds.

When an offender apologizes, it reflects 3 things about the character of the offender:

1. Humility. It takes a lot of self-introspection and ego-dismantlement to say “I am sorry.”

2. Accountability. The offender has a sense of self-knowledge and self-confidence to admit and acknowledge that he/she is not perfect. The offenders has a strong sense of responsibility about his actions.

3. Love. The offender values the relationship more than his/her pride that he/she is willing to let go of the conflict or the urge to be right or justified himself/herself.

Unarticulated apologies can cause us harm, especially to relationships. It gives the victim the impression that the relationship is not worth saving, or that he/she is not worth an apology at all.

In our Gospel today, Jesus affirms that all sins as long as they are repented for are forgiven. Even as the Jews deem it taboo that their offerings were polluted by bloods of Galileans, Jesus insists that the gravest sins are not the ones violating purity laws but the failure to repent. The failure to say “I am sorry” is the gravest sin.

Pride [that is the refusal to repent] makes us unable to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God because pride robs us of time. Pride involves time. Pride oftentimes deny time for the sake of itself.

In the parable, the central message is the element of time. The concern of the farmer/owner was the wasted time he waited for the fig tree to bee fruit; less about the profit.

Combining then the two points of the Gospel we are reminded that clinging to pride is a waste of time. The more one delays his/her apologies, the more time is costing each relationship of unknown price.

Pride deprives both the offender and the offended of the time that could have been spent instead on nourishing aspects of their relationships.

Let us not allow our sacred spaces -our homes, families, relationships etc., to be tainted by that which desecrates and disintegrates, -pride.

When it comes to our sacred spaces, always remove our sandals [the symbol of pride] for the ground where we are is holy.

Life is short.

Don't waste time.

Say sorry as soon as possible.

Spend the rest of your life loving.