Yesterday evening I attended a vespers service that dealt with suffering, brokenness and our ever present need to receive and extend forgiveness. And as a part of that our worship leader of the evening, a Franciscan monk, read a prayer I had seen a long time ago. It is ever fresh and amazing.
The anonymous prayer was found on a piece of wrapping paper in Ravensbruck, the largest of the concentration camps for women in Nazi Germany.
O Lord, remember not only the men and women of good will
but also those of ill will.
Do not remember all the suffering they have inflicted upon us;
remember the fruits we brought, thanks to this suffering:
our comradeship, our loyalty, our humility,
the courage, the generosity, the greatness of heart
which have grown out of this;
and when they come to judgment,
let all the fruits we have borne
be their forgiveness.
vitalwholeness 
Forgiveness is almost always hard. But the brokenness we suffer as a result of other’s words or deeds cannot heal without extending it. We often ask God to forgive others, but we feel grace and mercy most when we take that task of forgiveness upon ourselves.