Reconciliation Service
Blessed With Acceptance
“Truly loving another
means letting go of all
expectations. It means
full acceptance, even
celebration of another’s
personhood.”
Unknown
“I have found the
paradox, that if you
love until it hurts,
there can be no more
hurt, only more
love.”
Mother Teresa
“Happiness can
exist only in
acceptance.”
Denis De Rougamont
"People are often unreasonable and self-centered.
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior
motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are honest, people may cheat you. Be honest
anyway.
If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be
happy anyway.
The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow. Do
good anyway.
Give the world the best you have and it may never be
enough. Give your best anyway.
For you see, in the end, it is between you and God. It
was never between you and them anyway."
Mother Teresa
“Forgiveness does not
change the past, but it
does enlarge the
future.”
Paul Boese
“Human beings, like
plants, grow in the soil of
acceptance, not in the
atmosphere of rejection.”
John Powell
"The weak can never
forgive. Forgiveness is the
attribute of the strong."
Mahatma Gandhi
“The first step
toward change is
awareness. The
second step is
acceptance.”
Nathaniel Brandon
"To be a Christian means
to forgive the
inexcusable because God
has forgiven the
inexcusable in you.”C.S.
Lewis
“Acceptance is not
submission; it is
acknowledgement of the
facts of a situation. Then
deciding what you're
going to do about it.”
Kathleen Casey Theisen
"To err is human;
to forgive, divine."
Alexander Pope
“Like water, be gentle and
strong. Be gentle enough to
follow the natural paths of
the earth, and strong
enough to rise up and
reshape the world.”
Brenda Peterson
"Forgive and give as if it
were your last
opportunity. Love like
there's no tomorrow,
and if tomorrow comes,
love again."
Max Lucado
"The willingness to forgive is a sign of
spiritual and emotional maturity. It is one
of the great virtues to which we all
should aspire. Imagine a world filled with
individuals willing both to apologize and
to accept an apology. Is there any
problem that could not be solved among
people who possessed the humility and
largeness of spirit and soul to do either - or both -- when needed?"
Gordon B. Hinckley
“Too often we
underestimate the power of a
touch, a smile, a kind word,
a listening ear, an honest
accomplishment, or the
smallest act of caring, all of
which have the power to turn
a life around.”
Leo Buscaglia
"When you forgive, you
love. And when you
love, God’s light shines
upon you."
Jon Krakauer
"Forgiveness is
not an
occasional act, it
is a constant
attitude."
"True forgiveness is when you
can say, "Thank you for that
experience."
Oprah Winfrey
“The measure of
your life will be
the measure of
your courage.”
Matthew Kelly
"Forgiveness has nothing to do
with absolving a criminal of his
crime. It has everything to do with
relieving oneself of the burden of
being a victim--letting go of the
pain and transforming oneself
from victim to survivor."
C.R. Strahan
"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine
enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere, people my deceive you. Be honest and sincere
anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give you best anyway.
In final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them
anyway."
Kent Keith
“Forgiveness is the
final form of love.”
Reinhold Niebuhr
“Too often we underestimate
the power of a touch, a smile, a
kind word, a listening ear, an
honest accomplishment, or the
smallest act of caring, all of
which have the power to turn a
life around.”
Leo Buscaglia
"Forgiveness, in its
truest and highest
form, is a free act of
love".
Pope John Paul II
“The difference
between what we do,
and what we are
capable of doing,
would solve most of
the world’s
problems.”
Mahatma Gandhi
"Thank you, dear
God, for this good
life and forgive
us if we do not
love it enough."
Garrison Keillor
"Is it easy? Usually not.
But you don't forgive
people for their benefit.
You do it for your
benefit."
Andrew Matthews
"Life is an opportunity, benefit from it. Life is
beauty, admire it. Life is a dream, realize
it. Life is a challenge, meet it. Life is a
duty, complete it. Life is a game, play it.
Life is a promise, fulfill it. Life is sorrow,
overcome it. Life is a song, sing it. Life is a
struggle, accept it. Life is a tragedy,
confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it.
Life is luck, make it. Life is too precious,
do not destroy it. Life is life, fight for it.”
Mother Teresa
"I think that if God forgives
us we must forgive
ourselves. Otherwise, it is
almost like setting up
ourselves as a higher
tribunal than Him."
C.S. Lewis
But I tell you: Love your
enemies and pray for those
who persecute you, that you
may be sons of your Father in
heaven. He causes his sun to
rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the
righteous and the unrighteous.
Matthew 5:44-45
"we accept the love
we think we
deserve.”
Stephen Chbosky
"forgiveness is not a
single act, but a
matter of constant
practice"
Diana Gabaldon
"...if anything matters then everything
matters. Because you are important,
everything you do is important. Every
time you forgive, the universe changes;
every time you reach out and touch a
heart or a life, the world changes; with
every kindness and service, seen or
unseen, my purposes are accomplished
and nothing will be the same again."
William P. Young
"Before we can
forgive one
another, we have to
understand one
another. "
Emma Goldman
"Pray as though
everything depended on
God. Work as though
everything depended on
you." St. Augustine
“Humanity is never so
beautiful as when praying
for forgiveness, or else
forgiving another.”
Jean Paul Richter
"Forgiveness is above
all a personal choice,
a decision of the heart
to go against the
natural instinct to pay
back evil with evil."
Pope John Paul II
"The way Jesus shows you
is not easy. Rather, it is like
a path winding up a
mountain. Do not lose
heart! The steeper the
road, the faster it rises
towards ever wider
horizons."
Pope John Paul II
“We achieve inner health
only through forgiveness
– the forgiveness not
only of others but also of
ourselves.”
Joshua Loth Liebman
“You have to accept
whatever comes and the
only important thing is
that you meet it with
the best you have to
give.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
"I appeal to all of you, wherever
you are, whatever you are doing,
to see the face of a brother or
sister in every human being.
What unites us is so much more
than what separates and divides
us : it is our common
humanity.”
Pope John Paul II
”If a man finds it very hard to
forgive injuries, let him look at
a Crucifix, and think that Christ
shed all His Blood for him, and
not only forgave His enemies,
but even prayed His Heavenly
Father to forgive them also.”
Saint Philip Neri
“He who knows how
to forgive prepares
for himself many
graces from God. As
often as I look upon
the cross, so often
will I forgive with
all my heart.” (390)
St. Faustina
“The most terrifying
thing is to accept
oneself completely.”
Carl Gustay Jung
“Without
forgiveness,
there’s no
future.”
Desmond Tutu