Jn 20:19-23 (cont.)
. . . he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." (22b-23)
Okay, one final thing here. It is widely understood in the Catholic Church that this "loosing" and "binding" of sins is an apostolic gift, and passed along to the priesthood via apostolic succession. Yet it is likewise evident through other gospel passages that we each are gifted by the Holy Spirit with the capacity and responsibility for forgiving those who sin against us. (I'm not going to look these up for now.)
It is the Holy Spirit who provides each of us with this capacity, which is counter to our human nature, by which we tend to wrap ourselves around our hurt, and in fact become bound by the sins we refuse to forgive. The Spirit allows us to receive healing when we offer forgiveness, but withholding forgiveness has the effect of stifling the Spirit's healing power in our lives.
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