eat you alive
“You nourished hostility in your hearts because of your evil deeds.” —Colossians 1:21
Hostility, unforgiveness, bitterness, and resentment have ravenous appetites. They demand to be nourished constantly with bitter and unkind thoughts. Still that’s not enough. Those thoughts must spill out into words. We speak out of the abundance of our hearts (Lk 6:45). Like a devouring lion (1 Pt 5:8), the jaws of unforgiveness chew on gossip and slander born of resentment. Yet unforgiveness still must eat more. It relentlessly devours people, marriages, families, and friendships. It eventually may commit suicide by consuming the very person it feeds upon.
Unforgiveness gnaws on our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health. It eats us alive. Like cancer, unforgiveness and bitterness take over our body until we are dead. Like poison, hostility and resentment destroy indiscriminately, ruining both the object of the hate and the one expelling the venom.
Brothers and sisters, forgive or be handed over to the torturers to die a miserable death even into eternal damnation (Mt 18:34-35). The one who refuses to forgive is always among the casualties. Decide to forgive. Jesus will give you the grace, for He “has achieved reconciliation for you in His mortal body by dying, so as to present you to God holy, free of reproach and blame” (Col 1:22).
Prayer: Jesus, as You hung on the cross, You forgave me (Lk 23:34). Give me the grace to be willing to forgive.
Promise: “The Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.” —Lk 6:5
Praise: St. Peter Claver was led by the Spirit to leave his homeland to minister to the poor, “a slave to the slaves.” He baptized several hundred thousand slaves in his years of ministry to them.
Reference: (For a related teaching on Jesus and Peace, listen to, download or order our CD 42-1 or DVD 42 on our website.)
Rescript: In accord with the Code of Canon Law, I hereby grant the Nihil Obstat for One Bread, One Body covering the period August 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023. Reverend Steve J. Angi, Vicar General, Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio January 4, 2023
The Nihil Obstat ("Permission to Publish") is a declaration that a book or pamphlet is considered to be free of doctrinal or moral error. It is not implied that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat agree with the contents, opinions, or statements expressed.