The world needs Christ’s mercy. We need to get comfortable with speaking the words, “I forgive you.”

Laws, policies and human goodwill will not restore trust or soften hearts. The simple human inclination to “let it go” or “be nice” is tired, sentimental and faltering. Christ’s mercy is the only answer to society’s troubles. Only his mercy is inexhaustible, rooted in truth and strong enough to restore what we cannot restore on our own.

The words “I forgive you” are powerful. They are so powerful that they can never be backed by human strength alone. Forgiveness is not a polite phrase or the smoothing over of conflict. Forgiveness is Christ’s mercy flowing through us. When we say, “I forgive you,” and those words are backed by God’s grace, we release another person from resentment.

And, we free ourselves.

Mercy benefits the forgiver as much as it does the forgiven, probably even more. Jesus makes this clear in the beatitudes: “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Mt 5:7). A willingness to forgive opens our hearts to God’s grace and to salvation. It frees us from bitterness, anger and spiritual harm. When we fail to forgive, we close ourselves off from divine mercy, and we carry resentment that damages our soul. The words “I forgive you” are not easy to say, but enforced by God’s grace, these words are the path to our salvation.

Mercy does not replace justice. If I forgive someone for breaking my window, that is mercy. But I still expect that person to fix my window, and that is justice. Paired with Christ’s mercy, justice has to be fair, ethical and effective. It has to ensure wrongs are addressed and harm is repaired. Christ demonstrated this balance when he befriended the chief tax collector, Zaccheus. Jesus dined with Zaccheus, but he called him to restore what he had defrauded fourfold (Lk 19:1-10). In the parable of the prodigal son, the son receives mercy from his father, but his father expects him to live differently from that point on (Lk 15:11-32). True forgiveness works best in tandem with justice that leaves room for redemption.

Only through the grace of God can we forgive genuinely. Recently, a friend said to me, “You always talk about mercy, but you never talk about sin.” Ouch. Maybe that’s true, and I understand his concern. Advocating for mercy without acknowledging wrongdoing collapses mercy into sentimentality. Christ never ignored sin. He faced it directly on the cross. 

We see Christ address sin in conjunction with mercy in his words to the woman caught in adultery, in his call to Zacchaeus and in his forgiveness of Peter after his denial. Christ never excuses sin, he heals it. Christ’s mercy and God’s grace give us the strength to forgive in a way that restores relationships and protects our souls.

History gives us examples of mercy in action. After an attempt on his life in 1981, St. John Paul II forgave his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Ağca, and visited him in prison. Ağca completed his sentence and justice was served. But, mercy transformed a violent relationship into one of reconciliation.

After the Second World War, senior Vatican official Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty extended forgiveness and friendship to Herbert Kappler, the Nazi police chief of Rome. O’Flaherty’s forgiveness led to Kappler’s Christian baptism. Justice required imprisonment; Christ’s mercy made redemption possible. St. John Paul II and Msgr. O’Flaherty said, “I forgive you.” Then, Christ’s mercy flowed through them turning bad into good; the words they spoke were infused with God’s grace.

In our society, we need Christ’s mercy. We are entrenched in our ideologies, and we see one another as enemies. If we can say, “I forgive you” — and mean it — we can break down walls created by suspicion and open doors to honest dialogue. 

Mercy does not erase truth. It creates a space to seek it together. Practicing mercy allows truth to emerge; it disarms anger and opens hearts. 

The words “I forgive you” bring Christ into the world to mend what we’ve broken.