20170817
FORGIVENESS IS A LIFE LONG OBLIGATION
Readings
at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Joshua 3:7-11,13-17 ©
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The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This very day I will begin to make you a
great man in the eyes of all Israel, to let them be sure that I am going to be
with you even as I was with Moses. As for you, give this order to the priests
carrying the ark of the covenant: “When you have reached the brink of the
waters of the Jordan, you are to stand still in the Jordan itself”.’ Then
Joshua said to the Israelites, ‘Come closer and hear the words of the Lord your
God.’ Joshua said, ‘By this you shall know that a living God is with you and
without a doubt will expel the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the
Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite and the Jebusite. Look, the ark of the
Lord,’ the Lord of the whole earth, is about to cross the Jordan at your head.
As soon as the priests with the ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth,
have set their feet in the waters of the Jordan, the upper waters of the Jordan
flowing down will be stopped in their course and stand still in one mass.’
Accordingly,
when the people struck camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carried the ark of
the covenant in front of the people. As soon as the bearers of the ark reached
the Jordan and the feet of the priests who carried it touched the waters (the
Jordan overflows the whole length of its banks throughout the harvest season)
the upper waters stood still and made one heap over a wide space – from
Adam to the fortress of Zarethan – while those flowing down to the Sea of
the Arabah, that is, the Salt Sea, stopped running altogether. The people
crossed opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of
the Lord stood still on dry ground in mid-Jordan, and all Israel continued to
cross dry-shod till the whole nation had finished its crossing of the river.
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 113A(114):1-6 ©
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Alleluia!
When Israel came forth from Egypt,
Jacob’s sons from an alien people,
Judah became the Lord’s temple,
Israel became his kingdom.
Alleluia!
The sea fled at the sight:
the Jordan turned back on its course,
the mountains leapt like rams
and the hills like yearling sheep.
Alleluia!
Why was it, sea, that you fled,
that you turned back, Jordan, on your course?
Mountains, that you leapt like rams,
hills, like yearling sheep?
Alleluia!
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Gospel Acclamation
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Ps118:88
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Because of your love give me life,
and I will do your will.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Ps118:135
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Let your face shine on your servant,
and teach me your decrees.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 18:21-19:1 ©
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Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive
my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not
seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.
‘And so the
kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts
with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed
ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders
that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his
possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his
master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the
servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the
debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who
owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to
throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his
feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other
would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should
pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had
happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him.
Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all
that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have
pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the
master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And
that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your
brother from your heart.’
Jesus had
now finished what he wanted to say, and he left Galilee and came into the part
of Judaea which is on the far side of the Jordan.
FORGIVENESS IS A LIFE LONG OBLIGATION
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Jos 3:7-11. 13-17; Ps 114:1-6; Mt 18:21-19:1 ]
Forgiveness
is one of the most difficult things to do, especially to those who have hurt us
deeply. This is because it affects us deeply, our pride, our ego and our
well-being, and sometimes seeing the people whom we love deeply being hurt as
well. When the wounds inflicted are on the person, forgiveness is even
much more difficult, unlike someone who cheats us of our money and our
things. That is why for people who have experienced betrayal, infidelity,
rejection, abandonment or sexual abuse, especially from their loved ones, it is
not easy to forgive because the heart cannot let go, even if the mind desires
to.
Even then,
some of us might be willing to forgive those who have hurt us once or twice, or
even three times. Beyond that, we would not be willing to forgive. Our
reasoning is that they have been given enough chances and they should not be
given further chances. This was the case of Peter when he asked the Lord,
“Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven
times?” Peter thought he was being very magnanimous to suggest that
forgiveness should be rendered to those who sin against us, even it were for
the seventh time.
However, the
teaching of Jesus is clear about forgiveness. He said, “Not seven times, I tell you,
but seventy-seven times.” In other words, forgiveness is something we
must render always, regardless of the number of times a person has offended us
and how badly we have been hurt by him or her. In fact, the theme of
forgiveness is the heart of the Christian message. The proclamation of
God’s love and mercy is primarily seen in His forgiveness of the sins of
humanity. Christ has come to reconcile man with God. The whole
mission of Jesus is to convey the forgiveness of God and His mercy for
humanity.
The gospel
illustrates the magnanimity of God’s forgiveness and mercy for all of us. We are told that one
of his servants owed the king ten thousand talents. Of course, this is an
exaggeration. Ten thousand talents would be too huge an amount of money for
anyone to ever think of repaying in one or two lifetimes, especially if one was
just a labourer. Yet, God is like the king. Instead of punishing him,
since he had no means to return what he owed, “the servant’s master felt so
sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt.” This is the
mercy and forgiveness of God for humanity. God always forgives us
whenever we repent. He does not stop forgiving us, regardless of the
number of times we fail and turn back to Him for forgiveness.
The whole life
of Jesus was to pay the debt of our sin by manifesting to us the love and mercy
of God through His ministry of preaching and healing. The proclamation of
the kingdom is a proclamation of God’s mercy and love. “The Spirit of the
Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s
favor.” (Lk 4:18)
Particularly, in His passion, death and resurrection, Jesus showed us the depth
of God’s love and mercy for us all. “But if anyone does sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the
atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of
the whole world.” (1 Jn 2:1f)
Why is
forgiveness a never ending reality? Simply because we are sinners! St John wrote, “If we
say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in
us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us
our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we
have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” (1 Jn 1:8-10)
So the truth is that we are fallen creatures because we share in the sin of
Adam. And even when we are baptized, concupiscence remains with us.
Concupiscence is the tendency to miss the mark and steer off course
because of weakness and temptation. The only difference is that with His grace
given to us, we can better fight against the temptation of the Evil One. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “certain temporal consequences of
sin remain in the baptized, such as suffering, illness, death … as well as an
inclination to sin that Tradition calls concupiscence” (No. 1264)
If that is
the case, it means therefore that we will always need forgiveness. We
will fall into sin much as we try to resist. To be human is to sin, to
fall short of what we are called to be. We are sinners! The
psalmist says, “Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart, there is
no fear of God before his eyes. For he flatters himself in his own eyes that
his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.” (Ps 36:1f)
In another psalm, it says, “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is
ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is
evil in thy sight, so that thou art justified in thy sentence and blameless in
thy judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother
conceive me.” (Ps 51:3-5) So if sin speaks deep in our heart, it
is difficult to fight against sin because it comes from within us. In
other words, we are conceived with sin.
So if that
were the case for us, shouldn’t that be so for our fellowmen who need our
forgiveness too? We must always forgive them regardless of the number of times they
sin. Otherwise, what audacity do we have to ask God for forgiveness of
our sins when our sins against God deserve condemnation compared to the sins
our have fellowmen committed against us! That is what the master said; “I
cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not
bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on
you?” Jesus concluded, “And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with
you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.” If we cannot
forgive, it is because we forget that we are sinners and forever in need of
forgiveness. We are acting like the servant who owed an
enormous debt and was forgiven completely. And like him, having been
forgiven for such grievous sins against God, we still hold off forgiving our
fellowmen.
Of course,
there is a danger of receiving forgiveness without change. This is an abuse of the
grace of God. It means that we are not conscious of the price of
forgiveness that Jesus paid to free us from our sins. Many of us take
forgiveness lightly. That explains why we keep on repeating the same sins
almost immediately after confession. It means we could be
confessing out of fear or guilt but not out of contrition or a recognition that
what we do is wrong and sinful. Without a clear consciousness that
what we do is hurting others or God Himself, we commit and repeat the sins
without offering any resistance in the face of temptation. So too when we
take advantage of people who forgive us – our spouse for our infidelity, our
parents for our sloth and misbehavior, our superiors for failing in our
responsibilities – it shows that there is no real intention to change because
our conscience is not stricken. This was the case of the first
servant. He did not take into account the amount of debt he owed to his
master. Although forgiven, he did not feel remorse or contrite or
repentant. Immediately, he went out and was merciless in treating others
who sinned against him. For such people, they would have to suffer the
consequences of their sins before they can wake up from their slumber.
This is the warning of our Lord, “And in his anger the master handed him over
to the torturers till he should pay all his debts.”
So if we want
to make full use of the grace of forgiveness, we need to spend time examining
our conscience before confession. A routine and unprepared confession will only relieve
us of guilt for a while but will not bring about any real change in our
lives. We need to reflect on our sins and how it hurts others and God and
ourselves. Only then can we become contrite and sorry for what we
have done. Contrition is the prerequisite for a true confession.
Such a sorrow for our sins will give us the grace to resist another
temptation. The gravity of the sin is determined not only by what
we do but how we respond. The failure to offer resistance and giving in
to sin easily is the very definition of sin itself. But if we seek to
resist and we fail, then such acts flowing from our weakened nature
(concupiscence) are mitigated, for God knows how weak we are. When
we turn to the Lord for forgiveness, He is ever ready to forgive us and help us
to start anew again.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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