Back in the saddle here after surgery. Not completely but all has gone well and continues to do so. God is good and his grace of healing comes through the care and concern and prayers of others. I have been blessed and as time goes on and the healing continues, I pray for those who are not so fortunate or those who suffer far more than I have. Those who may find themselves in long term chronic pain or certain physical limitations as a normal state of life for them. Let us not forget our universal call to empathy, love and compassion.
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So will my heavenly Father do to you . . . unless your forgive from your heart
Matthew 18: 21-35
The Wordhttps://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091326.cfm
In regards to this Sunday's powerful readings, in particular the Gospel from Matthew. There is likely nothing more fundamental to human relationships than the ability to forgive one another. We are broken people living in a broken world so we will at times either deliberately or without knowing it, say something or do somethings that will offend another. When it is on purpose that I direct my anger or retribution towards another, it becomes very ugly and can quickly damage a relationship maybe only temporarily or unfortunately, at time permanently. People may go for weeks or even years holding a grudge against another for something they did.
Granted, sometime the hurt is deep and one comes to the point of saying either we agree to disagree or I never want to see you again! Such things are especially hurtful in families.
Nonetheless, our Gospel this Sunday has a powerful lesson about this fundamental principle of forgiveness. Peter, with the best of intentions, asks Jesus: "Lord, if my brother sins against me how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?" A good question from Peter who knows that seven times forgiveness is quite generous actually. Or so he thought.
Jesus answer is telling: "I say to you not seven times but seventy-seven times." Wow, can you imagine the look on Peter's face? Jesus multiplies Peter's offer beyond what may be reasonable or we might say natural and frames it in a parable to raise the leven of forgiveness from what we broken humans feel is generous to what God views is generous.
In otherwords, we are called to forgive as God forgives. We will be judged not by our level of education or the balance in our checking account or bank deposits and investments but by our ability to forgive the other person and to treat them with the same level of mercy that I have received. And we all have received mercy from our compassionate God who sent his Son to save us and to forgive human sin.
Jesus illustrates this with a parable about a servant who owed an absolutely enourmous amount of debt. So much that it would have taken him more than a hundred years to pay it off which would have been impossible. He pleads mercy from his master and he receives mercy as the master writes off the debt.
But, this forgiven servant, while very grateful, sees no reason to apply the same mercy to a fellow servant who owed him much less. Rather that offer what he received, he is unforgiving to the servant and demands repayment. Talk about an ungrateful and selfish servant!
The master receives word of this and his former mercy now becomes judgment: "Pay back your debt through hard labor and incarceration." He had no pity on that servant despite the extravagant amount of pity he recived earlier.
Jesus last line to the parable is the point of our readings this Sunday: "So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."
Well, can the lesson be any clearer for us? So, if you have a grudge against someone, if you hold hatred in your heart or whatever towards another, this is the Sunday to offer forgiveness. To pray for the one who hurt you and to go to confession to be reconciled. God's mercy is always available in confession and while a resentful grudge is not on the level of more serious sin, it potentially could be. Gossip, calumny (to purposefully injure the reputation of another maliciously), or anything related to this ugly sins, must be eliminated from our lives.
Jesus warns us, our peace of mind and social harmony seeks it, and our search for holiness is at a dead end unless we open the gate to be people of mercy, not seven times but seventy seven times. Forgive with divine forgiveness and allow God to be the ultimate judge.
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