One evening, Father O'Malley received a telephone call. A voice said, "Father, I'm calling from the local hospital and we have a terminally ill patient here who is asking to see a priest about the last rites, can you come quickly?"
The nurse met the priest at the door, and thanked him for coming. "The person who wants to see you, Father, is an alcoholic. He is still coherent but is slipping fast. He's called Tom," she said.
Father went into Tom's room and said to Tom, "I was just passing through and thought I would visit you before you sleep."
"Don't give me any of that garbage", Tom replied, "I asked that nurse to call someone to give me the last rites because I know my time is done and its my turn to go. Now get with it."
"Would you like to make a confession?" the pastor asked. "Absolutely not." Tom answered.
They talked for a long time and occasionally Father would ask Tom if he was ready for confession. Tom mentioned that he had done something in his life that was with him every day and he did not feel that God would forgive him. Finally, Tom agreed to tell the pastor his story.
"Thirty-two years ago, two months and eleven days ago, I was working for the railroad. It was two days before Christmas and the whole crew was drunk. Someone had to go out and push the switch for the train to go northbound. I guess I was more drunk than the rest because I pushed the switch in the wrong direction. The train slammed into a passenger car at the end of the next crossing and killed a young man, his wife, and their two daughters. I have had to live with that all of my life."
There was a moment of silence as Tom's confession of this tragedy hung in the air. After what seemed like an eternity, Fr. O'Malley gently put his hand on Tom's shoulder and said very quietly. "If I can forgive you, God can too because in that car were my father, my mother and two sisters."
Do we still find it difficult to forgive anyone?
:: Secret Lady ::
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