Marseilles…if one has seen the movie The Count of Monte Cristo, then it is impossible to be able to sail into the Marseilles harbor without thinking about the theme of injustice and revenge. In the bay is the famous prison and then one enters the main harbor right in the center of the city which is sheltered behind huge fortress walls, and so we rested there for a couple of nights as we began the week’s teaching.
Our subject for the week was forgiveness. As we engaged in looking at the subject of forgiveness in their own lives and in the lives of communities, the truth of God’s love became clearer to each of us. Our speaker, Padraig Twomey leads a forgiveness project in Belfast that is teaching forgiveness principles in the local schools. Whether the school is Protestant or Catholic there is an awareness of learning principles that could help change the next generation of Northern Irish.
At the end of our harbor was a beautiful Catholic church that I and others attended on Sunday morning. As we walked in, there was such a rich sense of God’s presence. As we left the service, I tried to talk to the priest how deeply I had been touched during the service with the peace of God. As he listened to me, he smiled and replied “go and live the message that you have heard here.” This priest’s face will be for me, the image of a Frenchman from Marseilles that I will remember. Here at the gates of the city was a priest teaching his congregation to live out the life of Jesus through love and forgiveness.
Through the week we also discussed two movies where the two fictional men had reacted to injustice in their lives through using revenge to win the justice their hearts desired. In both movies, the subject was brought up but ignored because forgiving was not the aim of their hearts. Both characters sought vengeance against their enemy and were almost destroyed by their acts of vengeance. When we compared this to the rewards of forgiveness in our lives, we all gave thanks that we have been called to way of living through God’s mercy that brings freedom to our lives and we want to share that good news with others.
On to Nice……..
Our subject for the week was forgiveness. As we engaged in looking at the subject of forgiveness in their own lives and in the lives of communities, the truth of God’s love became clearer to each of us. Our speaker, Padraig Twomey leads a forgiveness project in Belfast that is teaching forgiveness principles in the local schools. Whether the school is Protestant or Catholic there is an awareness of learning principles that could help change the next generation of Northern Irish.
At the end of our harbor was a beautiful Catholic church that I and others attended on Sunday morning. As we walked in, there was such a rich sense of God’s presence. As we left the service, I tried to talk to the priest how deeply I had been touched during the service with the peace of God. As he listened to me, he smiled and replied “go and live the message that you have heard here.” This priest’s face will be for me, the image of a Frenchman from Marseilles that I will remember. Here at the gates of the city was a priest teaching his congregation to live out the life of Jesus through love and forgiveness.
Through the week we also discussed two movies where the two fictional men had reacted to injustice in their lives through using revenge to win the justice their hearts desired. In both movies, the subject was brought up but ignored because forgiving was not the aim of their hearts. Both characters sought vengeance against their enemy and were almost destroyed by their acts of vengeance. When we compared this to the rewards of forgiveness in our lives, we all gave thanks that we have been called to way of living through God’s mercy that brings freedom to our lives and we want to share that good news with others.
On to Nice……..
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