Forgiveness – A Two-Day Zoom Event
presented by Patty Merlo, MPM
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2021 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2021 8:40 AM – 3:00 PM
OFFERED BY CONTEMPLATIVE OUTREACH OF CENTRAL FLORIDA
SUGGESTED DONATION: $10.00
All of the major religious traditions tell us to forgive. In fact, most of us struggle with forgiveness. Painful events from our past continue to poison our present thoughts and/or feelings. But the struggle does not mean that our desire is insincere, or that we are unable to forgive. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn what leads to the peacefulness and holistic benefits of forgiveness. Participants will learn how to forgive –whether the hurtful event occurred yesterday or years ago — and what to do when the hurtful behavior is likely to continue into the future.
- what forgiveness is/is not
- the benefits of forgiveness
- the process of forgiveness
- rituals of forgiveness
Patty Merlo, MPM, holds a master’s degree in pastoral ministry from Madonna University, trained as a hospital chaplain and has completed the internship in Spiritual Direction and Ignatian Spirituality at Manresa Jesuit Retreat Center. She has taught on the high school and college levels, served as a DRE and currently ministers as a spiritual director and retreat leader.
A very important reason to forgive is our own happiness. Isn’t it strange that the reason we hold on to unforgiveness is that, in some perverted way, we convince ourselves that not forgiving will contribute to our happiness. We must see that it won’t. We must see that our negativity, our deficiencies, our weaknesses, and our low self-esteem all come from a long series of wounds and hurts that we have experienced and out of which we are acting (or hiding). The actions of a broken person will be broken acts. The life of a victim will be itself victimized. When we allow ourselves to remain wounded, bitter, resentful persons, we contaminate not only ourselves but everyone we contact. Our family, our children, our friends, our community, our society, our very world is marred, soiled, and degraded. We shrivel our own capacity to love and be loved, to trust and be trusted, and affect also the abilities of those around us to love and trust. When I do not forgive someone who has injured me, I simply continue that evil and allow it to affect the well-being of everyone else.“
– William Meninger, The Process of Forgiveness, 27-28
Registration deadline: January 31, 2021
Click here to go to the EVENT PAGE Online Registration and More Information