Forgiveness

July 26, 2013

A Lesson In Humility

Humility - C S LewisLast week I suffered through a humiliating experience that completely blindsided me.  In hindsight, I probably should have seen it coming, but I didn’t.  I ordinarily don’t have any problems sleeping, but this particular experience left me so shell-shocked that I had trouble sleeping for several nights after it occurred.  All I could do was lie in bed, rosary beads in hand, and alternate between praying the mysteries of the Rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet.

March 14, 2013

The Brother of the Prodigal Son

Last Sunday (the fourth Sunday of Lent) the Gospel reading for the Mass (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32) described how the prodigal son asked and received half of his father’s inheritance, moved to a distant region, then proceeded to squander the money he received on alcohol and women.

December 24, 2011

The Divine Apology

I grew up in the country in a family neighborhood that included seven families.  My grandparents lived next door to my parents, and all of the other families in the neighborhood were made up of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  One of the uncles was my dad’s brother, Bill Williams.  His house was located next to a wooded area where he would sometimes hunt for rabbits and quail.  Uncle Bill loved hunting so much, he set up a little “gun shop” in his basement where he could re-fill his own shotgun shells.

December 17, 2011

I Owe You What?

Two weeks ago in my article, The Wrong Way To Apologize, I gave you four examples of apologies that, in my opinion, were not genuine apologies.  In last week’s article, A Genuine Apology, I told you about a recent experience I had where I ended up apologizing to a hotel clerk for the way I treated her after she was not able to fulfill a commitment that was made to me by another employee of the hotel.

December 10, 2011

A Genuine Apology

Last Month I went to Atlanta, Georgia, for a four day conference.  I took a direct flight from the airport in Bloomington (Central Illinois Regional Airport) to the airport in Atlanta (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport).  The flight was scheduled to depart at 6:40 p.m., but was delayed for over ninety minutes.  In addition to the long delay, when I arrived in Atlanta, I had to set my watch ahead an hour because of the time change.

December 3, 2011

The Wrong Way To Apologize

If you’ve been reading my articles for a while, you may have noticed that I have a little bit of an anger problem.  Although I’m optimistic by nature and work hard at staying positive, there are certain situations that irritate me and cause me to automatically respond in a hostile way.  Two such situations are: (1) when a person who should be listening to me doesn’t listen; and (2) when a person doesn’t do what he (or she) promised to do.

November 19, 2011

Hate, Anger, Love, & Forgiveness

As you may know, Georgette and I have seven children – one boy and six girls. Our son, Harry, was born in 1981, ten months after we were married. Anna was born twenty-two months later, and Maria was born on Harry’s third birthday. We had an instant family – three babies in three years.

November 12, 2011

Revenge, Boxing, & Forgiveness

When I was 12 years old, I took over a paper route delivering newspapers for the Peoria Journal Star.  Every day, I picked up the newspapers at Stafford’s Dairy, which was located about 6 blocks from my parents’ home.

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