A few Sundays ago, I was sitting in church at St. Richard Parish when the following story from the Bible was read:

Simon, I have something to say to you.” “Tell me, teacher,” he said.

“Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty.

Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?”

Simon said in reply, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.”

He said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment.

So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love.
But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”

He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven…. Your faith has saved you; go in peace ” (Luke 7: 11-13)

After praying on this for a bit, I felt a very powerful love overcome me for both God and my wife, Becky.  I am the woman in the passage above – I am the sinner.  I am the one that came to the feet of my God and begged forgiveness for my past selfishness.  I am the one that came to Becky and asked for her help becoming a better man.

My wife, Becky and I are high school sweethearts. We were together from the day that we met, through high school, through college and until today.  We have been together a long time and we have literally grown up together.

As a younger guy, I knew what was right and I knew what was wrong as I had a very good upbringing – but at times I chose wrong for purely selfish reasons. Luckily, Becky also knew what was right and she pretty much always chose right.  When I was in college and living out some of my most sinful times, Becky asked me to “go on a spiritual journey with her”.  Knowing that would be “less fun”, I took her lead and followed because deep down I wanted to be a better man.

It was a long struggle for me over several years but God and Becky never gave up on me. Over the next few years, I began to really know and love Christ and I began to love Becky more than I even knew possible.

Today I am free to love God and my wife completely. To put it simply, I am free.

I am forever indebted to Becky. I am forever indebted to God for his mercy and as a result of God’s call to love everyone – I am forever indebted to His people – all of humankind.

I hope that I can be of service to you as the Chairman of the Cleveland Catholic Forum.

God Bless You.

Sincerely,

Joe Soltis