20210301 SEEKING FORGIVENESS AND HEALING
01 March, 2021, Monday, 2nd Week of Lent
First reading | Daniel 9:4-10 © |
Yours is the integrity, Lord; ours the shame
O Lord, God great and to be feared, you keep the covenant and have kindness for those who love you and keep your commandments: we have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly, we have betrayed your commandments and your ordinances and turned away from them. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. Integrity, Lord, is yours; ours the look of shame we wear today, we, the people of Judah, the citizens of Jerusalem, the whole of Israel, near and far away, in every country to which you have dispersed us because of the treason we have committed against you. To us, Lord, the look of shame belongs, to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God mercy and pardon belong, because we have betrayed him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God nor followed the laws he has given us through his servants the prophets.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 78(79):8-9,11,13 © |
Do not treat us according to our sins, O Lord.
Do not hold the guilt of our fathers against us.
Let your compassion hasten to meet us;
we are left in the depths of distress.
Do not treat us according to our sins, O Lord.
O God our saviour, come to our help.
Come for the sake of the glory of your name.
O Lord our God, forgive us our sins;
rescue us for the sake of your name.
Do not treat us according to our sins, O Lord.
Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
let your strong arm reprieve those condemned to die.
But we, your people, the flock of your pasture,
will give you thanks for ever and ever.
We will tell your praise from age to age.
Do not treat us according to our sins, O Lord.
Gospel Acclamation |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;
whoever finds this seed will remain for ever.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Or: | cf.Jn6:63,68 |
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;
you have the message of eternal life.
Praise and honour to you, Lord Jesus!
Gospel | Luke 6:36-38 © |
Grant pardon, and you will be pardoned
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.’
SEEKING FORGIVENESS AND HEALING
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Dan 9:4-10; Ps 79:8-9,11,13; Luke 6:36-38 ]
Lent is a time to begin restoration of our broken lives. This was the situation of the Israelites during the time of Daniel. Through their misery and Babylonian exile, they came to realize that all these were brought about by their failure to keep the Covenant. They had lost everything that they cherished most, their nation and their kingdom. But reconciliation is not just between us and God. Reconciliation must simultaneously take place between us and our fellowmen. So, restoration and healing are both vertical and horizontal. The first reading speaks of the Israelites seeking reconciliation with God by asking for forgiveness for their sins. The gospel speaks of rendering forgiveness to our brothers and sisters.
Regardless whether it is our reconciliation with God or with our fellowmen, or seeking forgiveness from God or from our fellowmen, restoration begins with a clear confession of our sins. This was what the Israelites confessed, “we have sinned, we have done wrong, we have acted wickedly, we have betrayed your commandments and your ordinances and turned away from them.” The humility to recognize our sins and our faults is the fundamental step towards restoration. So long as we are arrogant, proud and ignorant of our blindness, selfishness and sinfulness, there cannot be true contrition or true repentance.
Awareness of our sins is not just doctrinal but personal. There are many Catholics who go for confession not because they are personally contrite for what they had done, but simply because they do not agree with the moral teachings of the Church. They confess their sins in a perfunctory manner because the Church says it is a sin. Indeed, I know of many married couples who do not see anything morally wrong with contraception, with going for IVF, having same sex relationships, or even with divorce. Many of our young people are usually not convinced of sexual sins because of secular influence, the friends they mix with, and so are numb to such sins. In fact, they think the Church is old fashioned, outdated and not realistic, still living in the past. So if they not personally convinced, we cannot expect them to stop sinning.
Acknowledgement of our sins must also be existential, that is, to be able to name our sins. Unfortunately, because of relativism, it is difficult to know what sins we have committed because everything is permissible. There are no moral judgments on our actions. So much so, although some of us know that we are sinners, we cannot name our sins. But a general feeling of our sins without the ability to name them will not help us to make any true contrition or repentance. What we cannot name, we cannot change. It is not enough to have a general notion that we are sinners. But we must know what our existential sins are.
If we cannot come to terms with the reality of sins in our lives, this is where, hopefully, suffering the consequences of our sins can wake us up to the truth of our actions. In the final analysis, what is right or wrong is not just a matter of an intellectual debate or something that is abstract and academic. The consequences of our actions will reveal what we do is right or wrong. Unfortunately, by the time, we realize that what we have done is wrong, it is usually a bit too late because the consequences would have set in. This was the case of the Israelites. Only in their exile did they come to realize that the prophecies were true and that they were wrong to reject the message of the prophets. “We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, and to all the people of the land.”
Indeed, God had always meant good for the people but they came to realize only too late. As a consequence, they suffered the shame of humiliation by having their kingdom destroyed and banished to Babylon. “Integrity, Lord, is yours; ours the look of shame we wear today, we, the people of Judah, the citizens of Jerusalem, the whole of Israel, near and far away, in every country to which you have dispersed us because of the treason we have committed against you. To us, Lord, the look of shame belongs, to our kings, our princes, our ancestors, because we have sinned against you.” Some of us unfortunately need to be brought low, to be humbled in order to know who we are and our limitations. So long as we think we are almighty and can do everything by ourselves, we become arrogant and proud. There can be no repentance until we see our true self. Pride is always the cause of the fall of every human person who thinks highly of himself.
Yet, we should not view our sufferings that come from our sins negatively. Rather, they are moments of grace. As the Book of Proverbs reminds us, “My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.” (Prov 3:11f) Acceptance of punishments is to take responsibility for our sins. When such punishments are seen positively, they bring about a real conversion of heart. Otherwise, we become even more resentful. Sufferings can either break us or make us better. This is why the Church imposes some penance on the penitents after confession to help a person to amend his or her life, not so much as a punishment but as a grace of God for us to reflect on our deeds, our life, so that we can attain true contrition of heart.
However, we must trust in God’s mercy. God is always forgiving. Like the psalmist, we can pray confidently to God for His mercy. “Do not hold the guilt of our fathers against us. Let your compassion hasten to meet us; we are left in the depths of distress. O God our saviour, come to our help. Come for the sake of the glory of your name. O Lord our God, forgive us our sins; rescue us for the sake of your name.” In the gospel, the Lord assures us that our Father is compassionate. He does not condemn us but only desire our conversion. Indeed, the mercy of God is expressed throughout the scriptures. The Prophet Micah wrote, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? 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.” (Mic 7:18f)
For forgiveness to be effective and complete, the forgiveness we receive from God must be extended to others. This is what the Lord said to His disciples, “Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge, and you will not be judged yourselves; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned yourselves; grant pardon, and you will be pardoned.” Indeed, if God can forgive us for all our sins committed against Him and His honour, surely, we can forgive our fellow sinners the sins committed against us. Just as we have failed to live a good life and righteously, so too we must give leeway for others as they seek to purify themselves in love.
When we judge others or condemn them, we are only reflecting ourselves in the way we look at people and also the way we look at ourselves. Hence, the Lord said, “Give, and there will be gifts for you: a full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into your lap; because the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given back.” We cannot be forgiving of others, if we are not forgiving towards ourselves. If we are conscious of our struggles in being faithful to the Lord, we will be sympathetic towards those who fail as well. Being able to pardon others means that we will be capable of pardoning ourselves. Those who cannot forgive others most likely cannot truly forgive their mistakes either. And so even when they receive forgiveness from the priest at confession, they are not truly convinced that God could love them still and truly forgive them. This explains why no true healing takes place even after confession if we do not extend that forgiveness we have received from God to others. In truth, at the end of the day, we know we are reconciled with God and find peace in our hearts only when we are reconciled with our brothers and sisters.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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