20200913 THE GRACE OF FORGIVENESS
13 September, 2020, Sunday, 24th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical Colour: Green.
First reading |
Ecclesiasticus 27:33-28:9 © |
Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you; and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven
Resentment and anger, these are foul things,
and both are found with the sinner.
He who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the Lord,
who keeps strict account of sin.
Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you,
and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.
If a man nurses anger against another,
can he then demand compassion from the Lord?
Showing no pity for a man like himself,
can he then plead for his own sins?
Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment;
who will forgive him his sins?
Remember the last things, and stop hating,
remember dissolution and death, and live by the commandments.
Remember the commandments, and do not bear your neighbour ill-will;
remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook the offence.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 102(103):1-4,9-12 © |
The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.
The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
It is he who forgives all your guilt,
who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion.
The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
His wrath will come to an end;
he will not be angry for ever.
He does not treat us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our faults.
The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
For as the heavens are high above the earth
so strong is his love for those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west
so far does he remove our sins.
The Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
Second reading | Romans 14:7-9 © |
Alive or dead, we belong to the Lord
The life and death of each of us has its influence on others; if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord. This explains why Christ both died and came to life: it was so that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Gospel Acclamation | 1S3:9,Jn6:68 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Speak, Lord, your servant is listening:
you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn13:34 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
I give you a new commandment:
love one another just as I have loved you,
says the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 18:21-35 © |
To be forgiven, you must forgive
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.’
THE GRACE OF FORGIVENESS
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Ecc 27:30 – 28:7; Ps 103:1-4,9-12; Rom 14:7-9; Matt 18:21-35]
One of the most difficult things in life is to forgive those who have hurt us. Many of us carry the pains and wounds of our past for life. Whenever, we think of those who have hurt us, not only do we hate or resent them but we wish them evil or that they might suffer what we have gone through. Anger, revenge and vindictiveness come with the lack of forgiveness. Yet, we know we are not at peace as well. By not letting go, we have no peace. Yet we cannot let go and forgive.
Among the themes of Jesus’ preaching, forgiveness and reconciliation is the primary message of the gospel. His preaching and message centers around the fact that we are sinners, we need to repent, ask forgiveness from God and from our fellowmen, forgive those who have hurt us and live life anew, and leave our past behind. Indeed, Sirach tells us, “resentment and anger, these are foul things, and both are found with the sinner.” This is why we must always forgive those who have hurt us. In the gospel, Peter was thinking that he was extremely generously when he suggested to Jesus that one should forgive seven times going beyond Rabbinic teaching which only required them to forgive deliberate faults only three times. But the fourth time, punishment would follow. This was the way God dealt with the disobedient Israelites. (cf Amos 1, 2) However, Jesus made it clear that we cannot withhold forgiveness regardless of the number of times we have been wronged. There is no limit to forgiveness. It must always be given. Forgiveness seems to be an impossible command because by nature, we want to retain our anger and resentment.
Right from the outset, we must say that forgiveness is a grace. Unless we understand that forgiveness is a grace from God, we will find ourselves helpless in forgiving those who sinned against us. To say that forgiveness is grace means firstly we have all sinned against the Lord, always, in the past, in the present and in the future. For sinning against the Lord, the punishment we deserve should be much more severe in comparison to the sin that our fellowmen had committed against us. But the parable of the Unforgiving Servant illustrates the great mercy of God. His mercy and indulgence are unbelievable.
We are told that the King’s servant, most likely a senior Court Official who mismanaged the King’s funds, ended up owing the master 10,000 talents, which is equivalent to millions of dollars, the revenue of the entire country which no individual could afford to pay back. It is a hyperbolic way of underscoring the debt of the servant and the king’s generosity. Equally patient was the King’s respect for the freedom of his servant to make decisions. Knowing that he had owed him lots of money, he did not stop him till the day of reckoning. When the time came, obviously, he could not pay the debt and so the king “gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt.” However, the servant asked for mercy saying, “Give me time and I will pay the whole sum.” Feeling sorry for him, he let him go and cancelled the debt.
Unfortunately, the servant did not come to a full appreciation and understanding of his debt and the King’s generosity. In truth, the master had already cancelled the debt. But he was still thinking of paying back the whole sum that he owed the master. In the first place, it would be simply impossible for a servant to pay back the master. The most expensive slave was only worth a talent in those days. How could he ever repay 10,000 talents? Instead of receiving forgiveness as a grace from the King, he was anxious to pay back what he owed. This explained why immediately after he was released, he pounced on a fellow servant who owed him just 100 denarii, an ordinary labourer’s salary for a day to repay his loan.
The first lesson we can learn from this story is that God’s grace is abundant. He forgives freely without conditions. He does not expect repayment. He is happy that we are forgiven and are able to start life anew. The prophet Micah says, “He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency. He will again have compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” (Micah 7:18f) This was how Christ forgave us by His death on the cross. What Jesus taught about forgiveness, He lived it in His own life. He held nothing against His enemies. On the contrary, He prayed for them to be forgiven and excused them for their ignorance.
The second lesson we can learn is that we are called to do the same in forgiving others. This was what the king told the first servant. “You wicked servant, 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?” Indeed, having been forgiven by God, it is only right that we render the forgiveness we have received to those who have hurt us. This was what Sirach wrote as well. “If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord? Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins? Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sin?”
We can do this by contemplating on the grace of God’s forgiveness and His generosity. Only if we have grasped God’s grace in forgiving us, can we truly forgive. Unless we understand what it cost the Father to forgive us, the price of His Only Son’s life, we will not be able to forgive others. St Paul, writing to the Romans, said, “Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person – though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:7f)
But this presupposes awareness of our sinfulness, our grievous sins against God and our fellowmen. Realizing our solidarity in sin will help us to appreciate why we should be ready to forgive others. Just as we have sinned against God and our fellowmen and desire forgiveness, we must be ready to offer the same to those who have hurt us. This is the conclusion of today’s gospel. “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.” This is echoed by Sirach who wrote, “Forgive your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.”
The third lesson we can learn is that by not forgiving others, we imprison ourselves. If the king forgave the servant, it was more for his sake than the servant. By punishing the servant, he would have lost more money, work time and his service. Regardless, the servant would never have been able to repay him anyway. Therefore, by forgiving him and retaining him in service, it was to the advantage of the King. So, too, by not forgiving our enemies, we make ourselves their prisoners. We have no peace and no closure. The best way to overcome our enemies is to let them go so that they no longer have a hold over us. Better to have a friend than an enemy. When we forgive someone freely, he or she will love us even more.
The fourth lesson is to remember that we all influence each other for good or for bad. We are the product of our past, present and the future. We cannot change the past but we can change our future. St Paul wrote, “The life and death of each of us has its influence on others; if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord. This explains why Christ both died and came to life; it was so that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Indeed, sometimes people are what they are today because of the past. They came from a poor and disadvantaged background. They cannot change the past, which they have inherited.
However, we can change the future by determining how we live our life today. Therefore, if we become conscious that our decision will affect people around us and the future generation, then we must be more careful of what we say and do because of the implications for the next generation. No man is an island. So we all have the power to be mentors of forgiveness and instruments of healing. By forgiving a person, we allow the person to be free and become the person God had intended for him.
Finally, if we cannot forgive, then we must consider the end of our life and what we would be feeling on our dying bed. So long as we do not let go of the past and our hurts, our life will be miserable. Life is so short. By keeping grudges, we limit our capacity for love and joy. Let go of our hurts and resentment because it is already in the past. Otherwise, we die in pieces and continue the hell we live on earth permanently to the next life. This is what Sirach advises us. “Remember the last things, and stop hating, remember dissolution and death, and live by the commandments.” So let us forgive always from our heart.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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