Prayer For ForgivenessPrayer for forgiveness of self and other has been and is so important to me. You will understand why if I tell you a little of my story:When I got ill, I did not have the help I needed to rest and recover. I had to go against the advice to rest in order to continue to look after myself. I got more and more ill. I ended up living severely disabled with ME, bedbound for 14 years. I felt that my deterioration was unecessary and was angry that no one stepped forward to ensure that I even got enough to eat. I developed the powerful forgiveness exercises of
the release
(see top right for how to get a FREE ebook on The Release)
and used prayer for forgiveness to keep my heart open. I wanted to be able to receive
blessings
instead of live with bitterness. Articles on Prayer for Forgiveness: Both pages include quotes on forgiveness from The Bible and A Course In Miracles. PRAYER FOR SELF-FORGIVENESS 1. A Spiritual Prayer For Forgiveness of Self 2. Catholic Prayers For Self-Forgiveness – Guilt or Release? 3. I Don't Have To Be Right To Be OK 4. Advice On Forgiveness In The Bible 5. Self Forgiveness Exercise With A Friend 6. A Child’s Forgiveness Prayer 7. Does God Forgive, Or Not?- includes a poem about forgiveness HOW TO FORGIVE SOMEONE ELSE 8. A Spiritual Forgiveness Prayer - A Step in How To Forgive Someone Else 9. Don't Try To Forgive On Your Own 10. How Important Is Forgiveness In A Course In Miracles OTHER ARTICLES ON FORGIVENESS ON THIS SITE: A practice of forgiveness I use in my life and in my work, called "The Release". SHARE Your Forgiveness Stories and Wisdom Definitions of Forgiveness From A Course In Miracles. Poems about Forgiveness 1. A Spiritual Prayer For Forgiveness of Self
Make this prayer for self forgiveness your own by missing out what does not apply to your own situation. Or write your own. If you would like advice about making the practice of forgiveness part of your life, please request my FREE E-book - The Release – A Practice of Forgiveness. See the box in the top right corner of this page. 2. Catholic Prayer for Forgiveness – Guilt or Release?A Catholic prayer for self-forgiveness can also be called an act of contrition. I have just looked up the definition of contrition on Wikepedia. “Contrition or contriteness (from the Latin contritus 'ground to pieces, i.e. crushed by guilt) is sincere and complete remorse (i.e. regret with a sense of guilt) for sins one has committed.” Yikes. That last sentence contains so much of what can potentially cause damage in religion. Ground to pieces, crushed by guilt. And the word “sin” has become a trigger word for so many people. The idea of saying a prayer for forgiveness is not to be crushed by guilt. It is very much the opposite. You can also attend a mass twice a year dedicated to prayer for forgiveness. It is called a penitential service. For myself, growing up as a Catholic Christian, I ended up with an unhealthy, I would say, ungodly sense of guilt. It did not come from these practices though. Not at all. Many people of various religions – especially in previous generations, had the opposite experience – the experience of a punishing and unforgiving God. Many secular (non-religious or non-spiritual) people with experience of being punished unfairly or not being forgiven also have a poor ability to forgive themselves or expect forgiveness from others. I was blessed to be taught a God of love not of fear. 3. I Don't Have To Be Right To Be OKWhen I was ill and housebound, my spiritual journey eventually moved me back towards Christianity. A priest started to visit me at home. To my surprise, I found an enormous sense of release and relief in saying The Confiteor – a prayer for forgiveness which is said in every mass.
I realised that without practising belief in a loving, all-accepting God, I had started to define my worth by whether I was right or wrong. What a relief to remember we don't have to be right to be OK. We can ask others to accept us as we are. We can ask others to say a prayer for forgiveness for us. There is a wonderful line in A Course In Miracles: “Do you prefer that you be right or happy?” (T-29.VII.1) When you feel unhappy with yourself or another, say this ACIM quote to give God access to show you another way of seeing things; one that leads to peace.
4. Advice On Forgiveness In The BibleChristian denominations generally have some practice for carrying out the following advice on self-forgiveness given in the Bible: The Confiteor prayer above will not suit some of you - Christian or otherwise. But I do recommend you write yourself a prayer for forgiveness of self; one that allows you to feel OK about having made mistakes. Read the prayer for forgiveness at the top of this page and see if any of it is helpful to you. 5. Self Forgiveness Exercise With A Friend
You might want to repeat this little forgiveness exercise many times so you keep hearing the words: I forgive you. We can be rather stubborn about forgiving ourselves. :-) 6. A Child’s Forgiveness PrayerAs a child I prayed the following prayer for forgiveness every night:
Sweet, isn’t it? 7. Does God Forgive, Or Not?I was taught that the nature of God is such that forgiveness is guaranteed. The only requirement is to be sorry and to say a prayer for forgiveness.
A Course In Miracles goes further. The following is from amongst so many profound and powerful forgiveness quotes in the Course:
“God does not forgive because He has never condemned.” We need forgiveness because we believe we have done something wrong. God does not need to forgive because he created us perfect. Whatever we believe about ourselves and the world, He knows these are just illusions. My spiritual journey is one where I move more and more towards defining myself as God sees me instead of the way myself or the world sees me. I am willing to take His word for what I am: what we all are. As this poem about forgiveness conveys, in God's eyes, we are innocent.
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