Sometimes it is easier for us to forgive our neighbor than ourselves, because we always want to be better than we really are. Sometimes we disappoint ourselves. And it is to some extent good that we do not put up with our sins and weaknesses. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, Father and Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, said this in response to young people's questions about how to forgive oneself.
He noted that sometimes we can treat ourselves more severely than our neighbors. "This type of demanding vigilance over lives is only the first step to liberation from evil. The next step is to look at yourself the way the Lord God looks at me. Treat yourself the way your God and Savior treats you. Then you will forgive yourselves as God forgives you, " he said.
According to him, such self-forgiveness, healing, liberation from personal sin is inextricably linked with our prayer, with our relationship with the Lord God.
"For it is He who gives us the strength not only not to do evil, but also to forgive ourselves. If I truly taste God's love, taste the joy of forgiveness, then I will be able to forgive myself,” His Beatitude Sviatoslav assures.
The Head of the Church calls to entrust our own self-esteem to God. "Ask Him," he said, "that the Lord may help you to see yourself in all your beauty and fullness. Because sometimes God sees us much wider than we look at ourselves. We are sometimes narrowed in our view only by our failures and sins. But we forget that the history of our personality is much broader than the history of our own failure."
"May the Lord God," asked the Primate of the UGCC, "help you discover the fullness of the truth about yourself, so that you may see that in God's eyes you are worth much more than in your own."
On September 13, His Beatitude Sviatoslav held an online meeting with young people during the Wind of Hope Festival. The Head of the UGCC could not answer all the questions during the live broadcast due to lack of time. Therefore, separately recorded answers to these questions are now published.