Stephen And Forgiveness

Positis genibus clamavit dicens: ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Si enim, inquit, dimiseritis hominbus peccata eroum, dimittet et vobis Pater vester coelestis peccata vestra. Si autem non dimiseritis, nec Pater vester dimittet debita vestra. Videtis, fratres, quia cum Dei gratia in potestate nostra positum est, qualiter a Domino judicemur. Si, inquit, dimiseritis, dimittetur vobis. Jam saepe dixi, fratres, et frequenter dicere debeo, nemo se circumveniat, nemo se seducat; qui vel unum hominem in hoc mundo odio habet, quidquid Deo in operibus bonis obtulerit, totum perdit, quia non menitur Paulus apostolus dicens: Si dedero omnes facultates meas in cibos pauperum, et si tradidero corpus meum, ut ardeam, caritatem autem non habuero, nihil mihi prodest. Quam rem etiam beatus Joannes confirmat, dicens: Omnis qui non diligit fratrem suum, manet in morte. Et iterum: Qui fratrem suum odit homicida est. Hoc loco fratrem omnem hominem oportet intelligi; omnes in Christo fratres sumus. Nemo sine caritate de virginitate praesumat, nemo de eleemosunis, nemo de orationibus confidat; qui quandiu inimicitiam in corde tenuerit, neque istis, neque aliis quibuslibet bonis operibus placare sibi Dominum poterit. Sanctus Maximus Taurinensis, Homilia LXIV, In Natali Sancti Stephani Levitae et Protomartyris Source: Migne PL 57.381c-82a

On his knees he cried out, saying: 'Do not hold this sin against them.' 1 'For if,' He said, 'you forgive men their sins, your Father in heaven shall forgive you your sins. If you do not forgive them, nor will your Father forgive your trespasses.' 2 You see, brothers, that when the grace of God has been placed in our power, how we shall be judged by the Lord. 'If,' He says, 'you forgive, you shall be forgiven.' I have often said, brothers, and I shall frequently say it, that no one should delude himself, no one seduce himself, who has hatred for even one man in this world, for then whatever he offers to God in the way of good works, all of it perishes, because Paul the Apostle did not lie when he said, 'If I should give all my possessions for food for the poor, and if I should give my body over to be burnt, if I have not love, it shall not profit me at all.' 3 Which matter the blessed John confirms, saying: 'Every man who does not love his brother, remains in death.' And again, 'He who hates his brother is a murderer.' 4 In which passage every man should be understood to be a brother. And thus let no one trust in chastity without love, let no one have confidence in alms or prayers. While a man holds hostility in his heart, neither these nor any other good work can please the Lord. Saint Maximus of Turin, from Homily 64, On The Feast Day of St Stephen 1 Acts 7.60 2 Mt 6.14-15 3 1 Cor 13.3 4 1 Jn 3. 14-15