Greetings and peace be with you azc;
When injustice happens, then you automatically have the right to be angry and demand justice. But so often in life, most people are unable to get true justice, so the anger remains, and the longer you hold onto this anger, the more it seems to eat away at you.......
Anger is like picking up a burning coal with the intention of throwing it at the person you are angry with, but the person who gets burned the most is me. The longer you hold onto this burning coal, the hotter it becomes.
I listened to Glen tell his story, he had been signed up to play football with Leighton Orient, alongside David Beckham. He had an exciting life ahead of him, but he was stabbed in the back. He has now been paralysed from the waist down for the last 27 years. They caught the man who did this, he served four years in prison, he was then able to walk out of prison on his own two feet, and justice had been served.
By this time, Glen had learned to drive a disabled taxi, he learned where his assailant lived, and then stalked him with the intention of running him over. Glen said at that point he came to understand that true justice could not happen. Justice is not that two people should be crippled, rather, it is that neither of them should be crippled. He knew this could never happen, he came to understand that he had to let go of his hatred. If not, he would become worse than his assailant, because his actions would be premeditated.
He said he had to live with two diseases, being crippled, and the greater disease was the hate burning away inside him. Forgiveness and letting go of the hatred was a gradual process, his wheelchair has been a daily reminder of the past injustice.
After we heard his story in Manchester Cathedral, we were asked to say a blessing and we were to keep in mind all the people that had hurt us, and who we had to forgive.
Now may the peace of the Lord be with you,
May the Lord bless you
May the Lord keep you
And may God's face shine upon you always
And give you peace.
If you can pray a blessing for those who have hurt you, then it does help your soul to heal.
In the spirit of praying to a just and merciful God,
Eric