Homeless in a World of Unforgiveness
In my work with the homeless, I’ve run across a puzzling situation. Many may have a place to live – with a sister, a mother, or a father – but don’t. Instead, they’re sleeping on a bench downtown, in their car, or at the homeless shelter. Some are men and women in their sixties and seventies.
I asked one sixty three year old woman who was sleeping in the woods, “What about your sister?” The response was unrevealing but spiked with emotion. “I just can’t go there!!!” I decided not to probe anymore. Another seventy-year-old man asked me for a ride to his father’s house about 10 miles away to pick up some mail. “Why don’t you stay there?” He looked down and shook his head and offered to say no more.
Although there are other factors involved, unforgiveness certainly contributes to their homelessness. It could go either way. The homeless person may have been hurt so much by the other that returning is out of the question. Conversely the homeless person may have burned so many bridges, and repairing the damage seems impossible.
There is a homeless quality to unforgiveness. As I think about the times I’ve held a grudge and had trouble forgiving another, I also felt isolated and in a sense, without a home. Not forgiving was, as Nelson Mandela said, “like drinking a cup of poison and then waiting for the other person to die.”
It’s not much different when I know I’ve hurt someone else, and I see no pathway to make amends. I am locked out of their life and their home.
I think of the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15), homeless and destitute. His journey was a journey from homelessness to forgiveness.
So the son got up and went home to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. (Lk 15:20)
I wrote a homily on forgiveness, building upon the parable of the unforgiving servant: “Welcome to the Prison of Unforgiveness”. If you’re having trouble forgiving another and feel homeless yourself, follow the link.
Pray for the homeless and those estranged from their family. May the Lord continue his ministry of reconciliation through us.
