Apr 12: Forgiveness Offered to All

Bernardo Daddi: The Martyrdom of St. Stephen (detail)
Santa Croce, Florence, 1324

Tuesday of the Third Week of Easter

Reading I: Acts 7:51–8:1a

“Lord, do not hold this sin against them (NRSV, Acts 7:60a).”

In the moment of his approaching death, Stephen called out to you, Father, begging forgiveness for those who were killing him. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus himself, begged for forgiveness for those putting him to death.

Father, I truly believe that you offer forgiveness to all of us for our sins, through the Word, even before we ask for it. All that is needed is that we turn away from the evil that we have done and once again freely accept your life into our own, even as we did in the power of the Spirit that first moment of our existence in our mother’s womb.

Father, as you offer us forgiveness and we accept it forgiving ourselves for what we have done, may we also, as Stephen did, turn to those who sin against us and pass on to them the forgiveness that we ourselves have received. To be forgiven is also to forgive in turn.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.