Some years ago, a friend gently suggested an exercise for me. He told me to picture myself on a shore or dock watching a ship approaching. As the ship neared, I realized I knew people on this ship, for the suggestion was to see all whom I was harboring a resentment. I decided to write down the names of those getting off the ship, thinking I’d see two or three people, but I stopped writing after filling two columns on a legal pad. And there were still people getting off the ship! I was able to let go of some resentments immediately, while others I had to work at.
The solution to resentments is forgiveness. I am releasing them and regaining the power I had been giving to them. As others have written, the person who benefits most from forgiving is the one who forgives.
—from St. Anthony Messenger‘s “A New Understanding of the Prayer of St. Francis“
by Richard B. Patterson, PhD
