11th September 2011 - Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)

C.S. Lewis remarked, 'Everyone says forgiveness is a lovely idea, until they have something
to forgive.'We pray at every Mass: 'Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against
us.' Yet, when sinned against by a brother or sister, husband or wife, friend or foe, how
ready are we to forgive? How do we forgive: reluctantly and resentfully? Or readily, from
the heart?

When Peter asked Jesus how often he should forgive, proposing 'as many as seven times',
he was really trying to set a limit — to see how few times he could forgive and get away
with it! Jesus responded with a number which was not really a number! 'Seventy-seven
times' (or 'seventy times seven') signified a countless number. Why? C.S. Lewis offers this
explanation: 'We forgive, we mortify our resentment; a week later some chain of thought
carries us back to the original offence and we discover the old resentment blazing away as if
nothing had been done about it at all. We need to forgive our brother seventy times seven
not only for 490 offences but for one offence.' As often as the sense of grievance rises hot
and strong within us, Jesus challenges us to forgive. And this forgiving is not so much about
forgetting as about 'remembering without bitterness' (source unknown).

Jesus speaks in the context of relationships within the church family. The closer a
relationship, the more frequently and heavily we tend to tread on one another's toes. Our
deepest hurts are not usually inflicted by our worst enemy, but by our best beloved. The
man in Jesus' parable owed 10,000 talents — this figure combines the largest Greek
numeral with the largest unit of currency (see New Bible Commentary, OM Books). Here is
not merely a daunting debt, but one that can never be repaid. The point of the parable? God
offers us grace and forgiveness beyond measure. But hands clenched in unforgiving anger
can neither appropriate nor appreciate this gift. And forgiveness extended to a brother or
sister is inextricably linked with the forgiveness received from our Heavenly Father.

Jesus modelled unconditional and unlimited forgiveness as he hung on the cross not only
forgiving, but also pleading the Father's forgiveness for those who put him there. To err
may be human, but to forgive is truly to imitate the divine

Ecclesiasticus 27:30-28:7 Psalm 102(103):l-4, 9-12

Romans 14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35

September 11, 2011

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sirach 27:30-28:9
Romans 14:7-9
Matthew 18:21-35

This Sunday we commemorate ten years of a terrible wound inflicted on our country by foreign
terrorists. Devastating though it was to buildings that symbolize American power, the murder of
thousands of lives that day was far greater. During these past ten years, families still grieve the
loss of loved ones, and our nation still fights off insecurity and fear - and unforgiveness.

God is surely speaking to our hurts in the 27th and 28th chapters of Sirach that make up our first
reading for this Sunday. “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins
will be forgiven.” Just like a fearful child will hang on to an old piece of blanket, so will the
“sinner” (that’s me!), hang on to unforgiveness. It’s mine! I’ll feel weak and defeated if I let it
go. And so we hug it to ourselves. Isn’t it something how slow we are to let old hurts heal? They
will probably never heal until we see our enemies as human. We need to understand more of
their anger and wrath. We need to know more about their religion, and what true and moderate
Islam really teaches.

There’s more really good advice in today’s passage from Sirach. He asks how we can possibly
expect healing from the Lord unless we let go our unforgiveness. Now that’s a thought to ponder.
There’s a real connection between God’s forgiving me and my forgiving my neighbor. God says
there is a connection, and we need to listen. It’s human to want revenge, but is it God’s way?
How many times has God forgiven our sins and failings!

Look at the steward in this Sunday’s Gospel. He probably thought his master was foolish and
soft to forgive him the millions of dollars he owed, even though he gladly accepted the favor.
But he evidently didn’t see any reason why he himself should act in the same way toward his
fellow servant. And that servant owed a bare fraction of the debt his master had forgiven him.

What a huge debt we owe God for his great mercy toward us. Forgiving others is the way we pay
that debt to God. And the funny thing is that we don’t really lose anything at all by forgiving. It’s
not money out of our pocket, nor is it hurting our health. Just the opposite. Holding grudges is
what hurts our health, while forgiving others is actually beneficial. To forgive means to let go,
and letting go helps our blood pressure, slows down our heart rate, and soothes our nerves. How
often we complain about being “stressed out”. Forgiving others opens our heart to God’s
forgiveness, lowers our stress considerably, and helps us to pray better. Now, doesn’t that sound
attractive? It’s a win-win situation.

On this weekend that commemorates the great assault to our national pride, the bombing of the
World Trade Center and the Pentagon, let’s bring ourselves to pray for a change of heart for all
who are contemplating acts of terror or hatred this week. Let’s throw in for good measure all
who have offended us. If we do, God will lift some of the weight from our hearts.

T Twenty Fourth Sunday of the Year September 11, 2011

September 5, 2011 by Mount St.Joseph

Ecclesiastics 27:30-28:7 Romans 14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35

Forgiveness is a Christian virtue and is the hallmark of our Christian faith and practice.
Forgiving the other in the full sense is a form of loving and caring. It is the miracle of a new
beginning. It is to start where we are, not where we wish we were, or the other person was. It is
to hold out a hand; to want to renew a friendship; to want a new relationship with husband,
father, daughter, friend, or indeed enemy. It may not take away the hurt and it does not deny the
past injury. It does not ignore the possibility and need for repentance and a change in the
relationship. It means being willing to take the initiative in dealing with any barriers that I may
be raising towards a restored relationship. It means that I am willing to have a relationship with
the other person that is based on Christian love and not on what has happened in the past, if the
response of the other person makes that possible. Christ from the cross showed what forgiveness
is and how far we can go. The first reading from the Book of Sirach tells us that if we forgive our
neighbor, we ourselves will be forgiven. In the gospel of today Jesus tells us in response to
Peter’s limited generosity that there is no limit to forgiveness. We are a people in need of
forgiveness and we are endlessly called upon to forgive. Jesus tells us that we must be
compassionate as our heavenly Father is compassionate. Summing up in the context of faith
Paul tells he Church of Rome that Jesus is Lord both of the living and the dead and is the master
of the Universe.

In the first reading of today Sirach tells us that we must forgive our neighbor if we want God to
forgive our own sins. We must be merciful if we want to obtain mercy from God. We must not
seek revenge on a neighbor of ours lest God should take vengeance on us. If we remember our
end in life we will keep God’s commandments and we will not be angry with our neighbor who
offends us. He says it is possible only for a sinful man to be angry with his neighbor. The man
who repays the neighbor in kind must expect God to do likewise to him. Only when we forgive
the other person generously, then only God will forgive us. While we expect mercy and
forgiveness from the infinite God whom we have offended, we often refuse a brother even a
small measure of mercy and forgiveness. Hence we are told to forgive our neighbor and then our
sins will be pardoned in the course of our prayer. The infinite God condescended to make a pact,
a covenant with the Israelites. Because of this covenant again and again he forgave them their
sins of neglect and disloyalty. Surely a mere man must forgive a fellowman, an equal, who has
offended him, if he expects God the creator who is merciful to forgive him.

In the second reading Paul reminds the Romans of the fundamental privilege which the
incarnation has conferred on them. By his life and death Christ did atone for all the sins of the
world. But he did something much more basic for our welfare, namely, he fulfilled God’s plan
for our elevation to make us his adopted sons and daughters. Thus when the Son of God took our
human nature, that human nature was united with the Godhead and we became brothers in
Christ. Here Paul emphasizes the fact that through our Baptism we have been made members of
Christ’s mystical body, we have become brothers of Christ, intimately united with him in his
death and resurrection. He tells the fact that whether living or dead a Christian belongs to Christ.
It was for this purpose, to unite all men closely to him, not only in this life but more specifically
in the life to come, that Christ became man and made his dwelling among us. As persons who
are baptized in the name of Christ we belong to him. He consoles the church that earthly death
cannot separate a person from Christ and God. By his victory over death through his
resurrection Christ has obtained a resurrection for the humankind. Therefore Paul insists that we
are no more individual creatures but we have an eternity of life and happiness awaiting us when
we die.

Jesus taught his disciples how it is necessary for them ever to be ready to forgive their fellowmen
who injured them. Today’s Gospel opens with one of Peter’s straight forward questions, asking
the Lord how often he ought to forgive. If he forgives seven times was it sufficient. According to
the rabbinical tradition forgiveness apparently extends to three offences and the fourth offence
calls for punishment. Good hearted Peter doubles the forgiveness of the rabbis and adds one for
good measure and considers himself very generous. To his surprise Jesus is not impressed and
tells him that it is not seven but seventy seven. Luke makes it further more difficult to count
saying seventy times seven. In other words you may not attach a number, a limit, to the times
you forgive. He then tells them a parable to bring out the lesson: unless we forgive our brother,
God will not forgive us. If we take revenge on our offending brother, God will take revenge on
us. We have the solemn word of Jesus that our heavenly Father will punish us if we do not
forgive our brother from our heart. In the Sermon on the Mount he tells us that if our brother has
done something wrong, and you are offering the sacrifice, leave it there on the altar, go and
reconcile and come to offer. Here we recall the question of Peter who said that if his brother sins
against him, meaning, the personal offence committed by one member of the community against
another member. It is the offence committed by a fellow believer in the context of the
community. Again in a normal sense forgiveness differs from the crime. You forgive the sin but
punish the crime. Blessed John Paul II forgave Agca generously and held lovingly his hand. But
he did not ask the Italian Government to release him. What Jesus asks is to forgive the sin within
the crime. However, Jesus does not restrict the forgiveness to members of the community and in
Our Father, he extends it all.

The forgiveness that Jesus teaches originates with God and the Bible elaborates this
forgiveness. This is given to us in the Book of Jonah and more specifically in today’s
responsorial psalm which tells us: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and
abounding in steadfast love; the Lord does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us
according to our iniquities. As far as the East is from the West, so far does our Lord remove our
transgressions from us.” God’s forgiving love is presented by Isaiah. When the Jews complained
that God has forgotten them, the Lord replies saying, can a woman forget her nursing child, or
show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet God will not forget his
people. Look, he says, I have carved you on the palm of my hand. Thus the Bible gives us the
picture of a God who is compassionate; he is a God of forgiveness. For us Christians this
message comes in the compassionate love of Jesus. This is because, God loved the world so
much that he gave his only son for our sake so that we may not perish but that we may have
eternal live in him. The type of forgiveness involved in it is shown in the parable of the
unforgiving servant.

Coming to the parable itself, we see the first servant owed the master ten thousand talents and the
second servant owed the other just one hundred denarii. A talent was worth 15 years’ wages for a
worker and a denarius was a day’s wage. The first servant would have taken 410 years to pay off
the debt while the other only three months of work. The generous master forgave the debt that
would have needed more than four hundred a year’s of work while the second servant was put in
prison for three months wages. We note here that the master in the parable is God. We humans
have been forgiven a debt so enormous that we could never pay for it. It is the debt of our sins
and all its consequences like the enmity with God. To pay our debt we remember that Jesus was
crucified and he expects us to forgive others the little mistakes they may have done.
We are told by Jesus in the parable to forgive others as God has forgiven us, to live the Our
Father: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. For God to
forgive us means to change us and accept us into a new relationship with him. It is make our
entire relationship alive with the life of God. It is an invitation to be one with God and become
his new creation. Only God can forgive us and show us the new way in which we can
live. When Bl. John Paul II forgave Agca, he did not change his heart, but God changed it. We
as his followers only prepare the way for others to change. There are two remarkable benefits
that come from forgiving. First benefit touches us who forgive: If you forgive others their wrong
doing, the heavenly Father will also forgive us. The second benefit accrues those we forgive: we
can be an instrument of God’s grace to others, help to make them better than they are. Today
Christ applies the lesson of the parable to his disciples telling them that if they do not forgive the
other from their heart they will not receive the forgiveness from God. He clearly reminds each of
us that our offence committed against God is far greater than those done to us by fellow men.
Hence forgiveness has to be part and parcel of our Christian lives.

Indeed there are two different approaches to offence and forgiveness, to reconciliation. One
approach is human approach where we expect the person to repent the wrong done, apologize the
other for it and repair the injury. Finally receive the pardon for the same. The other is the
Christian understanding of reconciliation, where we see how freely God has forgiven us and the
grace of forgiveness given to us. Inspired by the divine forgiveness, we repent and also extend
the forgiveness to the other. Here reconciliation does not begin with the offender but with the
victim. God will forgive the soul that forgives others. God will welcome the return of such a
child into the Body of Christ to continue its sanctification. The Holy Spirit will once more dwell
within the body of the repentant individual. God will bless the person with numerous graces, this
being God’s way of rejoicing in this great moment. God rejoices more for the one soul that is
saved than for the ninety nine that were not in need of being saved.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant raises the frightening prospect that pardon already
granted by God could be revoked. The king who forgave his servant his debt meant it. But when
the servant went out and failed to forgive his fellow servant, the king revoked the pardon. By his
action the servant had shown that he did not appreciate and therefore was unworthy of the pardon
given to him. Is this a good analogy of how God deals with us? That seems to be the point of the
parable. Jesus tells us that his heavenly Father will also do to every one of them, if they do not
forgive their brother or sister from their heart. In other words, when God gives us His word of
forgiveness, everything is not over yet. The deal is finally concluded only when we are able to go
out and forgive those who sin against us. The free grace of God’s forgiveness needs our response
of forgiving our neighbour to be finally ratified. This is indeed a frightening thought. Hence the
first reading tells us to forgive our neighbours the wrong they have done, and then our sins will
be pardoned when we pray. We find it hard to forgive others even though that is the only way to
anchor God’s forgiveness because we fail to appreciate and celebrate our own forgiveness like
the ungrateful servant in the parable. We tend to focus on the little things our neighbour owes us
rather than the larger amounts we owe to God, which God has graciously chosen to forgive.

There are two very clear messages from both the parable and the words from the Sermon on the
Mount: The first is that we dare not hold back forgiveness from those God forgives. We know
from the Gospel, God’s attitude towards wrongdoers and his penchant for forgiveness. But the
second message is that the divine patience is not infinite. God, as Jesus tells us to do, is ready to
forgive 77 times. And, when it comes to the forgiveness of our own sins, we take this for
granted. At the same time, there is a limit to the extent of God’s forgiveness in the sense that it
is conditional. That condition is determined first, by our readiness to respond to his forgiveness
through our repentance and conversion, and second, by our willingness to imitate him in
practicing forgiveness of those we feel have offended or hurt us. Forgiving in the full Christian
sense is a form of loving and caring. Today are told to forgive others and our forgiveness should
not be just once or twice, but seventy times seven. This means that it is an ongoing forgiveness,
day after day, week after week, years after years, this being done without counting. When we do
not forgive someone, it is because we are passing judgment on that person. Jesus commanded us
not to judge others so that we will not be judged.

Once upon a time two brothers, who lived on adjoining farms, fell into conflict. It was the first
serious rift in 40 years of farming side by side, sharing machinery, and trading labor and goods
as needed without a conflict. Then the long collaboration fell apart. It began with a small
misunderstanding and it grew into a major difference, and finally it exploded into an exchange of
bitter words followed by weeks of silence. One morning there was a knock on John’s door. He
opened it to find a man with a carpenter’s tool box. “I’m looking for a few days’ work” he said.
“Perhaps you would have a few small jobs here and there I could help with? Could I help you?”
“Yes,” said the older brother. “I do have a job for you.” “Look across the creek at that farm.
That’s my neighbor; in fact, it’s my younger brother. Last week there was a meadow between us
and he took his bulldozer to the river levee and now there is a creek between us. Well, he may
have done this to spite me, but I’ll do him one better.” “See that pile of lumber by the barn? I
want you to build me a fence –an 8-foot fence — so I won’t need to see his place or his face
anymore.” The carpenter said, “I think I understand the situation. Show me the nails and the
post-hole digger and I’ll be able to do a job that pleases you.” The older brother had to go to
town, so he helped the carpenter get the materials ready and then he was off for the day. The
carpenter worked hard all that day measuring, sawing, nailing. About sunset when the farmer
returned, the carpenter had just finished his job. The farmer’s eyes opened wide, his jaw
dropped. There was no fence there at all. It was a bridge — a bridge stretching from one side of
the creek to the other! A fine piece of work, handrails and all — and the neighbor, his younger
brother was coming toward them, his hand outstretched. “You are quite a fellow to build this
bridge after all I’ve said and done.” The two brothers stood at each end of the bridge, and then
they met in the middle, taking each other’s hand. They turned to see the carpenter hoist his
toolbox onto his shoulder. “No, wait! Stay a few days. I’ve a lot of other projects for you,” said
the older brother. “I’d love to stay on,” the carpenter said, but I have many more bridges to build.

Fr Eugene Lobo S.J. Rome.

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24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

The 10th Anniversary of September 11th 2001
Sirach 27:30 – 28:9 Romans 14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35

Some national and worldwide events deserve the Church’s best attention and prayer, especially when
consolation and wisdom are required. The tragedy labeled by its abbreviated calendar date as “9-11"
erupted into society’s consciousness because of unimaginable destruction wrought by the hatred, rage,
and viciousness of terrorist extremists. Even after 10 years, we still feel a powerful obligation to
memorialize the loss to human life, liberty, and property – and to necessarily wrestle with the radical
changes made on the perceptions of security we’ve enjoyed in the USA – on the heretofore unthinkable
scale which this day commemorates. The Catholic Church in the USA will commemorate this 10 th
anniversary with her principal liturgical prayer of gratitude, the Sunday Eucharist. We will use the scripture
lessons of our liturgical calendar’s 24th Ordinary Sunday, the words of which proclaim the essential
necessity of forgiveness and reconciliation in both Old and New Testaments for healthy, civilized, Gospel
faith, and fellowship. Today’s readings were not chosen for the 9-11 anniversary, so care must be taken
not to make the message ideological or trite. While the memorial has taken a place among the supremely
significant civic occasions, for the Church this is NOT “9-11 Sunday”; the date and the Sunday occur
coincidently on the same calendar date and day. Sunday is a little Easter; it is the Paschal Mystery of
Christ which we celebrate. All else is relative to that Gospel message. The scripture lessons and parables
generally assume that all parties in the Gospel narrative are fundamentally good people who try to be and
are open to becoming ever-more reasonable, balanced, and just. (The Gospel is not about terrorists or
extremists. Terrorists and extremists, past and present, tend to be neither reasonable, nor balanced, nor
just. Terrorists are anti-Gospel; don’t make this Sunday about them!) Our inspired texts today are lessons
which the Church’s Sunday lectionary has used on this tri-annual liturgy since the late 1960s. The Church
practice of reconciliation and forgiveness are extraordinarily challenging messages to proclaim, preach,
hear, and pray even in the happiest of times and among the best of people. They must be proclaimed
today with dignity, insight, and circumspection. The memory of 9-11 is nothing less than an open wound
on both the American collective psyche as well as on the minds and hearts of people of good will around
the globe. There are hundreds of thousands of people who lost family members, friends, acquaintances,
and associates among the more than 3,000 victims of that day’s horrific events. Millions and millions more
know first hand the locations and events of the day. One can speculate that nearly everyone on Earth has
been directly and painfully wounded by the destruction which many of us watched in real time on live
television. The shock the visual witness provided has hardly diminished over a decade. The power which
those memories and the visual images still exert over most of us is unmeasurable. People who
experience abuse, violence, destruction, and terror are changed profoundly. We have all been changed.

But, for us who embrace the Gospel of the Risen Christ, there is a power much greater than the gravest
negative emotions and memories – even greater than the emotional desire for corrective or retributive
justice – more moving and deeply creative and redeeming than that of abuse and violence themselves.
This power is love, a love which Gospel faith asserts comes from the God of Creation and Salvation, and
which is bigger than any hurt and any destruction. It is from this frame of reference we proclaim, preach,
hear, and pray today’s lessons.

Resentment, revenge, vindictiveness, anger, hatred . . . these are very expensive emotions. They cost
their owners much of their lives. They render their owners blind to nearly all goodness, deaf to joyful
compliments and gratitude, and unable to articulate words of affection and love. Resentment, revenge,
vindictiveness, anger, and hatred kill the one (however slowly!) the one’s whom they possess. We speak
of these qualities as if they are the object of possession as in “I have some resentment ...” or “They seek
revenge for ...” But, in practical fact, those destructive qualities are in charge of the person: “Resentment
controls me!” or “Revenge is directing my life for ...” Sirach knew this dynamic even more than two
thousand years ago. Astute observation in 21 st Century ordinary daily life demonstrates that many of us
carry around hurts and resentments and wounds in the normal course of living. It seems that we might not
be aware of our baggage, but it seems also that we are afraid or at least unwilling to let go of them.
Sirach counseled “Remember your last days (i.e., imagine your death in the future), set enmity aside (i.e.,
let go of those self-destructive emotions and feelings which cannot edify or help).” About two centuries
after this advice, Jesus of Nazareth taught what might be the most famous prayer of Christianity, what we
call “The Lord’s Prayer” or “The Our Father” or “The Pater Noster.” In it, we pray, “Forgive us our
trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us!” Do we understand those words and mean
them? We put them in our own mouths. None force us to say them. So, ought not there be more
forgiveness in our lives than there sometimes appears to be?

This same Jesus, whom we call the Christ or Messiah, told today’s Gospel parable about forgiveness. It is
interesting in the parable that the one who had been forgiven the more was so quick to forget his benefit,
and instead became ungrateful, hateful, and unmerciful. He seems to have embraced that fairly common
attitude that says, “I’ve got mine ... (so let others get theirs for themselves)!” Jesus’ enthusiasm about the
obligatory nature of forgiveness threatened divine punishment on all who fail or neglect to forgive “from
your heart.” It took a great deal to provoke Jesus to anger since he preached a loving, merciful, and
forgiving God. Superficiality is neither sufficient nor acceptable. Forgiveness and reconciliation must be
genuine and profound. But, even before one forgives, one must appreciate that she or he has received
forgiveness. We who have been initiated into the Church through Baptism have received forgiveness from
all our previous sins. Merely being among the disciples of Jesus’ Gospel as a disciple means that we
have been greatly forgiven and fully reconciled to God’s Church. Memory of that divine mercy is
supposed to propel us to lifelong, conscientious fidelity to the Gospel message, the Sunday Eucharist,
and to active membership in and engagement in the Gospel fellowship we call Church.

St. Paul had been forgiven his complicity in the murderous death of St. Stephen Can
you imagine being forgiven murder?. The Risen Christ called him directly to a Gospel
ministry of apostolic preaching. That meant that the Risen Christ forgave him, and the
whole Church had come to forgive him as well, so that he could minister among the
other disciples. God’s grace upon Paul which changed him from a persecutor to a
Gospel herald was very powerful. God’s grace upon the early Church to forgive Paul
and to incorporate him into the international Christian fellowship of that day was very
powerful as well. One can only wonder whether or not we modern Christians are
consistently open to both receiving forgiveness ourselves, and to giving genuine
forgiveness to even the most difficult and unlovable in our lives. Forgiveness begins
within each individual and at home. For most of us, the issues surrounding forgiveness
and reconciliation are very complicated, delicate, difficult, and even exhausting.
Reconciliation is the very work of God shared with us in the Gospel! The prayer of
absolution in Sacrament of Reconciliation includes the instruction and reminder that
“God the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of his Son, has
reconciled the world to himself, and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of
sins.” One of the fundamental, essential, necessary, sine qua non activities of the
Church is to announce salvation through the forgiveness of sin. To neglect or to avoid
the work of reconciliation or to opt out of reconciling is to actively reject the Gospel. We
are better than that. We have much for which to be thankful. We have the redemption of
gratitude when we are at our best. We do “live for the Lord,” not for ourselves as
individuals when we allow God’s gratitude and forgiveness to work in and through us.
No healthy human experience is as profound and life-giving as that loving altruism
which demonstrates at once both our gratitude and our compassion.

The mass destruction of September 11th 2001 changed all who remember those events.
Today, we remember that tragedy both individually and collectively, both privately and
publically. But, we are the Gospel people! We say we imitate Jesus of Nazareth in our
daily lives. Will we allow the very Spirit of God to change us even more, and much more
constructively that terror and destruction have changed us? Will we willingly lay down
our pride, our resentment, and any other impediments which foster and keep us
estranged from others made in God’s image and likeness just as we are? “For the Lord”
means for the Lord’s other people.

Let us remember well all the mercies shown us so that we can sew among others
memories of mercies and affections shown to them!