[Question:]{.underline} Must we forgive injuries done to God and to others?
[Answer:]{.underline} The obligation of forgiveness, even of our enemies, is fundamental to the new law of charity instituted by Our Divine Savior. We all have heard many times of Our Lord’s response to St. Peter’s question: “Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times” (Mt 18:21, 22). We pray constantly in the Our Father that God might forgive us, as we forgive those who trespass against us (Mt 6:12). We know that regardless of the insults directed against us, we must pray for our persecutors, as Our Lord himself did on the Cross: “Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you” (Mt 5:44).
However, it is not for us to forgive injuries done against Almighty God or against others. We are not those who have been offended, insulted, attacked, calumniated, and it is not our honor that is in question. It is consequently not for us to forgive, but for God himself, or for the persons concerned. In such instances, of course, we have the duty to pray for the enemies of God, that they might convert and ask for pardon, that they might understand the gravity of the insults directed against God and His friends, or against the Blessed Virgin or the Church. However, it is not in our power to forgive an injury that is not directed against us. How frequent this situation is with respect to God, and how great a desire of making reparation it enkindles in our hearts! Yet only God, who is offended can forgive, and then only when pardon is requested of him.
Answered by Father Peter Scott, SSPX.