The Secret To Obtaining Super Powers

Have you ever imagined what it would be like to the strongest person in the world? When I was a kid, there was a Disney movie called “The Strongest Man In The World” and I remember getting such a kick out of that. It’s about a regular guy whodiscovers a new chemical that when mixed with a cereal seems to give anyone temporary superhuman strength. This brings up an interesting topic, which is not just super strength, but super powers. I’m sure at some point most of us have sat around with friends discussing the question, “If you could have any super power, which one would it be?” A fun conversation, but not very realistic. Or is it? What if you really could have super powers? Let’s explore this possibility a little.


While we might not be able to have super powers like being invisible, moving at the speed of light, or even flying, it is possible to be super powerful. You might be thinking to yourself, “Wait, how can I be super powerful, I’m not a Marvel character, or the Pope, or a politician, or a world leader so how can be super powerful?” You can. In fact, you have the ability to be the most powerful person on Earth.

How can this be? And where can someone get this power? Well, it’s simple really. The power is already inside all of us and we get this power from God. It’s the power of forgiveness. This can be a heavy topic for some people because of the heavy load some of us carry around. There are so many things in life that can weigh us down, but nothing is heavier than shame, guilt, blame, regret, humiliation or disgrace. These are things that other people can put on us, or we put on others or worst of all, we put on ourselves, (more on that in a minute).

All of those things I just mentioned that weigh us down are often connected to our sins, which is why it’s so important for us to go to Confession on a regular basis. Oh wait a minute, I probably just made you feel guilty for not going to confession in a while. Oops. Anyway, I don’t know about you but whenever I go to confession, I always come out feeling better and even a little bit lighter, almost like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. The truth is that a great weight has been lifted because I’ve been forgiven. That’s how powerful forgiveness is. But that kind of forgiveness comes from God who we know is all-powerful, but what about an ordinary person? 

This is where we get an opportunity to be “super powerful”. Have you ever hurt someone emotionally? I’m not just talking about making someone a little upset, I’m talking about the kind of emotional pain that can do serious damage to someone’s self esteem, ruin a relationship or even tear it apart. Or have you ever been on the receiving end of that kind of hurt? That kind of pain can weigh a person down so much, it can be unbearable. The good news in this is that this kind of pain can heal but it can only come through one thing…forgiveness. 

Perhaps you’ve been in a situation where someone has hurt you so badly that it literally changes the way you feel about that person and maybe even no longer talk to them. Then one day, for whatever reason, the person comes to you to say, “I’m sorry, will you forgive me?” And if you choose to say, “yes, I forgive you”, an emotional weight has been lifted. THAT is powerful. So much so that maybe in your eyes, that person just became ‘the most powerful person on Earth’. 

When we forgive someone, we are also doing something else, which is showing mercy. The two go hand-in-hand. FORGIVENESS = MERCY. It’s the same thing we get when we go to Confession, mercy. Our God is such a merciful God and always willing to grant us mercy if we simply ask for it and then show him what we are willing to do in order to receive it. It’s right there in The Lord’s Prayer (better known as The Our Father);

“…forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

If we expect to receive God’s mercy, we need to be merciful to others. That’s how we show him we are worthy of his mercy. We even pray for his mercy several times during Mass because it’s something we should be ever-mindful of in our lives. 

Forgiveness covers a lot of ground. There is another kind of forgiveness that is sometimes the hardest to come by and that is forgiving our selves. We often carry around a guilt that we put on ourselves for things we think we’ve done wrong or where we think we failed in life or where we think we let others down. I learned an important lesson from a wise Priest one time in my own Confession, which is to forgive myself. There is a beautiful phrase that says, “There is no sin greater than God’s forgiveness.” What that says is that if Almighty God can forgive you, then there’s no reason you can’t forgive yourself.

Earlier in this post, I mentioned how forgiveness equals mercy. You may already be aware, but there will be an important event soon for our church that will focus specifically on mercy. On March 13, Pope Francis declared that the Church will celebrate an extraordinary Jubilee Holy Year of Mercy, beginning Dec. 8, 2015, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and ending Nov. 20, 2016, the feast of Christ the King. This will be a tremendous celebration for everyone. A special prayer has even been composed to accompany this event. I want to focus on one specific thing regarding this. In Pope Francis’ announcement of this celebration, he states:

The transformation of the heart that leads us to confess our sins is a “gift from God”. We cannot do it alone. The power to confess our sins is a gift from God, it is a gift, it is “his work” (cf. Eph 2:8-10).

Notice the one key word he uses, “power”. I would encourage everyone to read the entire announcement because the Holy Father goes into even greater detail, everything I’ve written here. It’s so important to understand just how powerful forgiveness truly is.

If you are struggling with any kind of forgiveness, whether it is for someone else, from someone else, or even for yourself, keep working on it. Most importantly, spend time in prayer on this particular issue. In time, God will help you move forward and heal, I promise. Then you can become, the most powerful person on Earth.