“There Is No Profit in Ifs” by Pr. Schroeder

The Cadfael Mysteries is a series of twenty novels by Ellis Peters (nom de plume for Edith Pargeter).  The central character is Brother Cadfael in Shrewsbury, England, near the Welsh border.  The novels take place in the 12^th century during  the “anarchy” brought about by two claimants to the throne King Stephen and the Empress Maud. Brother Cadfael is the herbalist in his monastery and so knowing herbs and spices and plants, he is kind of like a doctor…and he has keen sense of observation, and as a monk, of human nature.  His best friend is the Sheriff of Shrewsbury Hugh Beringar.  In “Virgin in the Ice”, in a wintry snowy night, two of Cadfael’s charges, one very sick, yet recovering put in the charge of lad of noble birth by Cadfael while Cadfael prays Compline in the village’s monastic church…when he comes back his two charges are gone! Immediately, he beckons Hugh Beringar and others, sounding the alarum for the Sheriff and Cadfael’s brother monks to go out of the town for the search. 

Cadfael says distressfully to his friend Hugh that it was his foolishness as the fault of the two men leaving in the dark howling night. The Sheriff will have none of what his dear friend is saying:

“(Hugh) turned on Cadfael and…clouted him hard between the shoulders. ‘And you, my heart, stop talking such arrogant foolery! The man seemed quiet and biddable, and the boy needed using, and could be trusted to the hilt, as you very well know. If they’ve miscarried, it’s none of your blame. Don’t arrogate to yourself God’s own role of apportioning blame and praise, even when the blame lands on your own shoulders. That’s a kind of arrogance, too.” It is good to have a friend like Hugh Beringar. This is a heartfelt snapshot of friendship with Divine tenderness and toughness and more:  truth, even God’s own truth.

When the Sheriff leaves, Cadfael ruminates on his dear friend’s guidance, as Cadfael,

“…had taken Hugh’s impatient reproof to heart, too, and it gave him reassurance no less. It was all too easy to turn honest anxiety over someone loved into an exaltation of a man’s own part and duty as protector, a manner of usurpation of the station of God. To accuse oneself of falling short of infallibility is to arrogate to oneself the godhead thus implied. Well, thought Cadfael, willing to learn, a shade specious, perhaps, but I may need that very argument myself someday. Bear it in mind!”

In this chapter, Brother Cadfael would need Beringar’s “very argument” very soon.  The young noble boy’s sister was lost and lo and behold in this dark, snow driven evening, she comes to the village. The sister, Ermina, has a sincere conversation with Cadfael.  She said she is to blame for the murder of a nun that was with her and her brother, if only I had…Cadfael: 

It is nothing of the kind, said Cadfael firmly. “You must not take to yourself more than your due. What you yourself did, that you may rue, and confess, and do penance for, to your soul’s content, but you may not lift another man’s sins from his shoulders, or usurp God’s right to be the only judge. A man did this, ravisher and murderer, and he, and only he, must answer for it. Whatever action of any other creature may have thrown our sister in his way, he had command of the hands that killed and outraged her, he and no other. It’s of him her blood will be required’…Might not you, too, have fallen into such hands? Child, if men had not done as they did, any time these five centuries, of course things would have gone on differently, but need they have been better? There is no profit in ifs. We go on from where we stand, we answer for our own evil, and leave to God our good.”

I think there is soundness of the Word  in this fiction which rings true.  As a pastor, I think myself so important that what I did or did not do is to blame for someone else’s sin or mishap, which results in anxiety and fretting.  When so, I am thinking of myself more highly than I ought.  I need sober judgment of faith in Christ (See Romans 12: 3).   As Hugh said to his dear friend, we are not to arrogate, “…God’s own role of apportioning blame and praise, even when the blame lands on your own shoulders.”  Apportioning blame, that is judgment, is God’s alien work alone to do.  I think this is very close to, “I can’t forgive myself”.  As Christ Jesus has forgiven you, how can I NOT forgive myself if He has?  Mercy triumphs over judgment, and yes, from God, His just judgement and His just mercy in the confession of sin. Forgiveness is the Lord’s proper work for my sin.

Further, when we apportion blame or praise on others, or do so self-reflectively, then we are judging.  Judge not, taught Jesus and it is seldom pointed out that to judge is also to pronounce my own or someone else’s goodness. The Lord alone is the judge of our souls. I can only give thanks to God that I have a friend,  who needs care as Hugh did for Cadfael and then Cadfael for a young woman he had just met in a crisis. 

One more:  when I have so chastised myself for my faults in conversation with a friend, then my old Adam is leaking out all over the place because I am putting on show of piety about how good I am to know how wrong I think I am.  Again, the assignation of wrong or right to a person’s soul is for the Lord alone.

In Cadfael’s conversation with Ermina, the monk takes Hugh’s insight to another level. When we self-piously take the blame for another man’s crime/sin,  then as Cadfael said, we can not bear and take off another man’s sin. It’s his.  It’s hers…to confess. No what ifs, ands or buts about it. The one who did the wrong must answer for it. And to wring one’s hands about what I should have done or not done, kicking myself in rear, won’t change anything… we don’t know if things would have been better these past five centuries. Cadfael’s last piece of wisdom is spot on for us all: 

“There is no profit in ifs. We go on from where we stand, we answer for our own evil, and leave to God our good.”

Prayer of Thanksgiving at the End of the Day

Gracious Lord, we give you thanks for the day, especially for the good we were permitted to give and receive. The day is now past, and we commend it to you. We entrust to you the night and rest in your peace, for you are our help, and you neither slumber nor sleep. Hear us for the sake of your name. Amen.

The Truth is Scary

            The truth is scary. You go to see the doctor for strange pains and there are tests. You hear the truth that you have tumor. The truth is scary because God’s truth shows us our true condition which is the sin of the Old Adam and how bad we’ve been. And that truth has been in short supply of our condition in the Presence of God and His Holy Law with the virulent atheism of the major movements of the 20^th Century:  Marxism, Fascism, Freudianism, Biblical Criticism and Communism, all atheistic to the core…and churches then trying to be relevant to the atheistic age to “reach out” to people. Too many still are.  I think those movements are a major cause of the bloodiest century, the 20^th, in human history.  Horrors. If we don’t know that from the Moral Law, then God’s Word in His Son of our pardon, peace and purpose in life here is not heard and the devil and our flesh don’t want to be saved. And that’s even scarier…so per the American WWII propaganda against Nazism: trying to kill the God’s Word, the Bible and that homicide is not the purview of the Nazis alone…but our educational system as well where the Name of God is not to be mentioned as if He is the devil.  We have let loose the monsters of our curved in upon ourselves flesh and the world and the devil upon earth. Halloween is a way of us telling ourselves that there are monsters and dragons, and G.K. Chesterton, Roman Catholic novelist and commentator wrote at the cusp of 20^th centuries:   “Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” And today, Reformation, that Christ Jesus kills them to save us. And this being All Hallows Eve and tomorrow All Saints Day that He has called a mighty army with the angelic hosts.  Blessed Halloween and All Saints Day tomorrow! (By Pr. Schroeder)

Quote of the Day from G. K. Chesteron, and a Question

Countdown Quote to Reformation Day, 1, by Martin Luther on being called a “Lutheran”

I ask that people make no reference to my name; let them call themselves Christians, not Lutherans. What is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine. Neither was I crucified for anyone. St. Paul, in I Corinthians 3, would not allow the Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine but Christian. How then should I – poor stinking maggot-fodder than I am – come to have people call the children of Christ by my wretched name? Not so, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christian whose doctrine we have. The pope’s men rightly have a factious name because they are not satisfied with the doctrine and name of Christ and want to be with the pope, who is their master. I have not been and will not be a master. Along with the church I have the one general teaching of Christ who alone is our master. Matt. 23:8. 

(Martin Luther, “A Sincere Admonition to All Christians to Guard Against Insurrection and Rebellion” (1522), Luther’s Works, Vol. 45, p. 70)

The Festival of St. Luke, Evangelist, 18 October

Collect of the Day: Almighty God, our Father, Your blessed Son called Luke the physician to be an evangelist and physician of the soul. Grant that the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments may put to flight the diseases of our souls that with willing hearts we may ever love and serve You; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Lessons for the Day: Isaiah 35:5-8 Psalm 147:1-72 Timothy 4:5-15 St. Luke 10: 1-9

Biblical Bio:   St. Luke, the beloved physician referred to by St. Paul (Colossians 4:14), presents us with Jesus, whose blood provides the medicine of immortality. As his traveling companion, Paul claimed Luke’s Gospel as his own for its healing of souls (Eusebius). Luke traveled with Paul during the second missionary journey, joining him after Paul received his Macedonian call to bring the Gospel to Europe (Acts16:10-17).  Luke most likely stayed behind in Philippi for seven years, rejoining Paul at the end of the third missionary journey inMacedonia. He traveled with Paul to Troas, Jerusalem, and Caesarea, where Paul was imprisoned for two years (Acts 20:5-21:18). While in Caesarea, Luke may have researched material that he used in his Gospel. Afterward, Luke accompanied Paul on his journey to Rome (Acts 27:1-28:16). Especially beloved in Luke’s Gospel are:

• the stories of the Good Samaritan ( Luke 16:29-37),
• the prodigal son (Luke15:11-32),
• the rich man and Lazarus  (Luke16:19-31),
• and the Pharisee and the tax collector (Luke 18:9-14).
• Only Luke provides a detailed account of Christ’s birth (Luke 2:1-20)
• and the canticles of Mary (Luke1:46-55),
• of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79),
• and, Simeon (Luke2:29-32).

To show how Christ continued His work in the Early Church through the apostles, Luke also penned the Acts of the Apostles. More than one-third of the New Testament comes from the hand of the evangelist Luke.  (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House)

A physician employs diagnostic tools to determine the ailment that a patient suffers in order to treat him. We use medical terminology a lot these days as in, “We live in a sick society”. Oh but not me!   The Divine Physician uses the diagnostic tool of His Law, the 10 Commandments to find out the ailment of a sin(s) plaguing a man:  Thievery?  Sexual immorality?  Love of money (that is, idolatry)?  Covetousness? Etc.  The Lord knows to how observe, not only your body, but your heart, soul and mind. So that the Lord can proclaim through His pastor(s) the balm of Gilead, the anointing of the Holy Spirit which is His forgiveness in His Son Jesus Christ who came not call the righteous, but sinners, us all to repent and pray, God, be merciful to me a sinner (St. Luke 18: 13). In the Collect for today, we pray to the Divine Physician,  Almighty God, our Father, Your blessed Son called Luke the physician to be an evangelist and physician of the soul. Grant that the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments may put to flight the diseases of our souls that with willing hearts we may ever love and serve You:  through Jesus Christ our Lord.  This is Whom St. Luke the physician wrote about and about Whom Dr. Luke heard the eyewitnesses!  The Lord has written His diagnosis in the Scripture of Law , and His prognosis in the flesh of His dear Son, in His Promise: forgiveness, His grace, mercy and peace by His dying and rising. The Divine Physician died for His patients, His people, for you for eternal life with Him in His Resurrection. Put your sin on Him as it was. Believe and rejoice!

Hymnody

For that belov’d physician/ All praise, whose Gospel shows/The Healer of the nations,/The one who shares our woes./Your wine and oil, O Savior,/Upon our spirits pour, And with true balm of Gilead Anoint us evermore.—By All Your Saints in Warfare (LSB 518:26)

The Commemoration of St. Ignatius of Antioch, Bishop, Martyred in Rome, ca. anno Domini 107

“Glorious is God with His saints and angels: Oh, come let us worship Him.”

Almighty God, we praise Your Name for Ignatius of Antioch, pastor and martyr.  He offered himself as grain to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts so that he might present to You the pure bread of sacrifice.  Accept the willing tribute of all that we are and all that we have, and give us a portion in the pure and unspotted offering of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

About Ignatius: He was the bishop of Antioch in Syria at the beginning of the second century A.D. and an early Christian martyr. Near the end of the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan (98–117), Ignatius was arrested, taken in chains to Rome, and eventually thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. On the way to Rome, he wrote letters to the Christians at Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna, and also to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. In the letters, which are beautifully pastoral in tone, Ignatius warned against certain heresies (false teachings). He also repeatedly stressed the full humanity and deityof Christ, the reality of Christ’s bodily presence in the Lord’s Supper, the supreme authority of the bishop, and the unity of the Church found in her bishops. Ignatius was the first to use the word catholic to describe the universality of the Church. His Christ-centeredness, his courage in the face of martyrdom, and his zeal for the truth over against false doctrine are a lasting legacy to the Church.  (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, Concordia Publishing House)

The very word, “saint”, means one who is holy. The saints in Christ were not holy on their own steam, but on account of Jesus Christ. In Him the Holy Spirit sanctifies His Church and a Church of forgiven sinners in Jesus which will stand out in the world and the world might not like it.

The perennial temptation is for the Church to make Herself attractive to the world. I think this is worse than ever in our day in outlandish ways. In the new this past week the historic Canterbury Cathedral has allowed various religious groups and sexual deviants to adorn this sacred place with graffiti:

Ignatius knew from Whence love comes, a love that does not tolerates but spurs one toward the Holy God and love of neighbor, even enemies.

Other cathedrals in England have put inside their Sanctuaries putt-putt gold and amusement rides. One ELCA “Lutheran” Church for Easter turned their Baptismal Font into a chocolate fountain.

Canterbury Cathedral is also the site of the murder and martyrdom of Thomas Becket, in December, 1170. T. S. Eliot wrote a play about this, “Murder in the Cathedral”. Now a church wants to commit suicide by murdering the Truth of God’s Word, but this is obviously not limited to Canterbury. St. Ignatius of Antioch consecrated God’s House with His life, and as Israel desecrated the Temple with Baal, so now in like fashion today we with other idolatries and immorality. What do we do in a time of desecration? Consecrate by turning to the Lord as Ignatius did in his time of idolatry and immorality. Not only for ourselves but for all to repent as the Lord, “…desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2: 4).

Professor Carl Trueman in a spot one article, “The Writing is on the Wall”, ended his article with this: “Perhaps the words “Ichabod” sprayed over the entrance might be considered next time?” In the time of the prophet Samuel, a time of desecration, the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines and the immoral religious leadership were killed per God’s judgment, and just then the pregnant daughter in law of Phineas, son of the priest Eli gave birth: And she named the child Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel!” because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband. ²² And she said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

Ichabod means “the glory as departed.” Lord, have mercy.

Gladius Spiritus

“The reference to a weapon for battle—the “sword of the Spirit” —shows that the struggle of the Christian believer is not merely defensive but offensive as well:

The “sword of the Spirit” is identified with the “word of God” (Eph 6:17). The sharp, short sword (machaira) was the most important weapon for close-range combat. A “defensive” interpretation is ruled out by the fact that the short sword was an offensive weapon. Paul does not want to immunize the Christians against the influences of pagan society, He describes the offensive action of Christian believers in their fight against the attacks of Satan.

They engage in the active proclamation of the good news of Jesus’ death on the cross by which he defeated all evil powers and of Jesus’ resurrection to life. This is a message that is made effective and powerful by God’s Spirit.

The word of God is wielded by the Holy Spirit as a “sword”, it is the proclamation of the gospel in the midst of a world dominated by evil powers, so that people are liberated from Satan’s control and find salvation.

(Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies and Methods, page 149; author: Eckhard J. Schnabel; IVP Academic, 2008)

The Commemoration of St. Jerome, Translator of Scripture, +30 September, anno Domini 420

St. Jerome’s Vulgate Translation:  St. John 1: 1:In principio erat Verbum et Verbum erat apud Deum et Deus erat Verbum  In the beginning was the Word: and the Word was with God: and the Word was God. In ipso vita erat et vita erat lux hominum   In him was life: and the life was the light of men.

Collect of the Day: O Lord, God of truth, Your Word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path. You gave Your servant Jerome delight in his study of Holy Scripture. May those who continue to read, mark, and inwardly digest Your Word find in it the food of salvation and the fountain of life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Jerome, Translator of Holy Scripture:  Jerome was born in a little village on the Adriatic Sea around AD 345. At a young age, he went to study in Rome, where he was baptized. After extensive travels, he chose the life of a monk and spent five years in the Syrian Desert. There he learned Hebrew, the language of the Old Testament. After ordination at Antioch and visits to Rome and Constantinople, Jerome settled in Bethlehem. from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, he used his ability with languages to translate the Bible into Latin, the common language of his time. This translation, called the Vulgate, was the authoritative version of the Bible in the Western Church for more than 1,o00 years. Considered one of the great scholars of the Early Church, Jerome died on September 30, 420. He was originally interred at Bethlehem, but his remains were eventually taken to Rome. (From The Treasury of Daily Prayer, CPH)

Reflection:  We make much ado about miracles in the Bible as well we should as they point to the very nature of Jesus Christ; but there are some miracles that go totally unnoticed, as in: 

For out of Zion shall go the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. Isaiah 2 and Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. Revelation 14: 6

From the least of the tribes and nations of earth comes forth the Word of God and specifically, the Word made flesh, “…to every nation and tribe and language and people.”  This is the powerful deed of the Word of God to save souls and bodies in His forgiveness and mercy.   He has made known to all His Law and Gospel. There was a priest of Jesus Christ, one Jerome,  translating the Bible into a language by which all of Europe for 1,000 years could listen to the Word of God. Vulgate Latin become the lingua franca, the common language of the Church.  It was not God’s language for God’s language, His Word, His tongue are the mighty deeds in Jesus Christ, as it clear in Acts 2:7-9, but they heard it  in  their own“native language”.  This is the Pentecost of translation begun in Jerusalem.  It has not stopped. The Bible is the perennial best seller in the world.  The Pentecost of His published Word was continued by Jerome and many others. The Bible or portions thereof have been translated into some 2, 287 languages.  This is a powerful deed. This day and everyday is to have at the ready copies of the New Testament to give someone as the greatest gift and deed of all. As St. Jerome said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ”.

For all of our information, technology and knowledge, we are living in ignorant times. “Man will not die from lack of information but inspiration.”–Abraham Heschel. Jerome  loved and translated God’s Word, and he did not attack it as so many ‘Christian’ theologians have done in our day denying the historicity and veracity of the Bible according their false science of interpretation. His translation has lasted for centuries, but the writings of so many ‘theologians’ will only be fodder for the fires of hell. The Lord brought forth His Word out from Zion. We think we are civilized but when we look at war, greed and the murder of children in the womb by the millions, we are still pagans and barbarians.   The Lord sending His Word forth from Zion is the Lord’s great deed by which He civilizes a world in, through and by  His Word as we await for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.  

Jerome facilitated the greatest publishing event in the history of the world that had already begun at Pentecost: The Holy Bible.  It is the Word alone which testifies to God’s will for us.  If it was not, then Jerome would have translated human traditions for the world to read, but he did not. It is a high vocation to be a Translator of Scripture.  This is a good day to continue to pray for all translators, missionaries, seminarians and Biblical professors.  Pray the Lord to give us opportunities to make public His Scriptures by placing into the hands of the spiritually destitute the life-giving Word of God!  Pray the Lord that all of the Baptized be fed the bread of Life from the Holy Scriptures! And especially in our schools! Pray our Churches be a college of Christ in His Word for our culture and society in this days of Biblical ignorance!

The Feast of St. Michael and All Angels

Collect of the Day: Everlasting God, You have ordained and constituted the service of angels and men in a wonderful order. Mercifully grant that, as Your holy angels always serve and worship You in heaven, so by Your appointment they may also help and defend us here on earth; through Your Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Appointed Scripture Readings: Daniel 10:10–14; 12:1–3 Psalm 91 (v. 11) Revelation 12:7–12 Matthew 18:1–11 or Luke 10:17–2

Our Father in Heaven Protects His Children by Giving His Holy Angels Charge Over Them:  We live in “a time of trouble” (Dan. 12:1), in the midst of great tribulation. Satan and his wicked angels have been thrown out of heaven and have come down to earth “in great wrath,” with woeful “temptations to sin” and with constant accusations (Rev. 12:8–12; Matt. 18:7). Even so, we are encouraged by the presence and protection of St. Michael and the holy angels, whom God sends to help us in the strife (Dan. 10:11–13). By “the authority of his Christ,” His holy angels guard and keep us in body and soul. These heavenly servants of God preserve His human messengers on earth, the ministers of “the blood of the Lamb,” against all the power of the enemy, for by “the word of their testimony,” the Church is saved and the devil is defeated (Rev. 12:10–11; Luke 10:18–19). By their preaching and Baptism of repentance, the old Adam and the old evil foe are “drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). As God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, so are His people delivered and raised from the dust of the earth through the forgiveness of their sins (Dan. 12:1–3).

About St. Michael and All Angels: The name of the archangel St. Michael means “Who is like God?” Michael is mentioned in the Book of Daniel (12:1), as well as in Jude (v. 9) and Revelation (12:7). Daniel portrays Michael as the angelic helper of Israel who leads the battle against the forces of evil. In Revelation, Michael and his angels fight against and defeat Satan and the evil angels, driving them from heaven. Their victory is made possible by Christ’s own victory over Satan in His death and resurrection, a victory announced by the voice in heaven: “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come” (Revelation 12:10). Michael is often associated with Gabriel and Raphael, the other chief angels or archangels who surround the throne of God. Tradition names Michael as the patron and protector of the Church, especially as the protector of Christians at the hour of death.

Glorious is God with His angels and saints,O come, let us worship Him. (Matins)

In Christ, There is No Excessive FORGIVENESS in a World of Excessive VIOLENCE

“…and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”   

In 2018, a white Dallas police officer Amber Guyger, tired after a hard day’s work, entered her apartment and a black man was inside watching TV and she shot him to death. This tragedy was compounded by the fact Officer Guyger walked into the wrong apartment.  She was sentenced to 10 years.  After sentencing, this courtroom scene took a surprising turn.  The victim’s brother Brandt Jean asked the Judge, Tammy Kemp, for a favor. Brandt Jean, citing his Christian faith wanted to forgive her. The judge agreed.  Mr. Jean said, “I love you as a person, and I don’t wish anything bad on you” and then he asked the judge,  “I don’t know if this is possible, but can I give her a hug please?” Surprisingly the Judge agreed.  Then Judge Kemp, a black woman and a Democrat, came down to Amber, Judge Kemp gave Amber her Bible, and hugged her and whispered to her.  It was overheard and in what she said the Judge cited John 3: 16.  Sobs rang out in the courtroom. Outside the courtroom, protesters chanted, No justice, no peace.  A headline from The Babylon Bee, Christian satire website:  Media Warns Excessive Forgiveness Could Set Back Outrage Narrative Hundreds Of Years. 

Once again, the Lord teaches His disciples, us, His Church, that if a brother sins, rebuke him, showing him his fault. If he repents seven times, “you must forgive him”. .  Excessive forgiveness!? Yes! Oh, I want to be forgiven but forgive the dope who cut in front of me in line?!  Let alone forgive the woman who killed my brother. Welcome home even 7 times a day, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost son? Not if you feel like it, most likely I won’t, but Jesus teaches this is a must. In Christ, There is No Excessive FORGIVENESS in a World of Excessive VIOLENCE but His forgiveness which is so needed.

“You shall not murder, hurt, nor hate; Your anger dare not dominate. Be kind and patient; help, defend, And treat your foe as your friend.” ​Have mercy, Lord! ​—These Are the Holy Ten Commands (LSB

Concordia Publishing House. Treasury of Daily Prayer (p. 1573).