Forgivness as the Action of Grace.

In Christianity, grace is understood by Christians to be a spontaneous gift from God to man - "generous, free and totally unexpected and undeserved" - that takes the form of divine favor, love and clemency.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines forgiveness as 'to grant free pardon and to give up all claim on account of an offense or debt'.

It was the word forgiveness that drew me into the domain of healing. Jesu often connected it with the healing work attributed to him. Even when healing the body he would add, "your sins are forgiven you." I came to see that forgiveness and healing were the same thing - a letting go, or releasing of the errors (sin - missing the mark) of self limiting belief or structures which left us in a state of self entrapment. The entrapment could be one of limiting physical emotional or mental or cultural capacity.

The releasing and restoration to optimal function is more than a matter of mechanics. Even the surgeon can not heal. It is nature that heals - a power greater than ourselves which restores according to an optimal template of design. The action of this power I understand as grace. Its origin is in a primal intelligence. It has no cause but is freely and randomly given. We may receive it and we may give it in so far as we are in harmony with the Universe. Without deserving it the Universal intelligence may bring about a healing restoration. Giving without deserving we may also mimic the universe as an extension of its healing grace.

In so doing, the power field of grace becomes stronger within us. Such strength is none other than the offering of freedom, a releasing of limitation, an intuition of the beautiful perfection of the design of intelligent energy which comprises our Universe. That which we bind, binds us. We seek justice in judgement, yet as we mature we offer freedom and abandon judgement. We do this in realization of the perfection prior to the flawed perception. As a healer we are the instrument of second chances, and a third and more. "Judge not lest you be judged" and "forgive 70 times seven said the Master." We can see these as rules and they will become our limitations as well. Or we can see these as originating from perfect freedom and possibility and they become the key to the undoing of our shackles as well.

Love and gratitude are the most frequent refrains of the New Age change makers. Yet often lost is a deeper context of meaning of forgiveness as rooted in the freedom called grace - the unchallenged bounty of a lack of limitation - which underlies the idea of spiritual liberation. In the context of Grace as freedom given, love is purified as unconditioned and gratitude as ecstatic celebration. In realizing freedom the original perfection of all things are retained and to freedom returned and thereby restored. This is the way of the healer and the sage.