Word to the Wise
Thursday, August 14, 2008 - St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe - franciscan priest and martyr
[Ezekiel 12:1-12 and Matthew 18:21 - 19:1]Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times."
There is a lot of content to our faith. We recite a good chunk of it in the Nicene Creed on Sundays and feast days. One of the lines toward the end concerns "the forgiveness of sins." I think most of us see this as something God does for each of us and it's not something we need to do ourselves! Jesus' teaching, then, comes as a terribly difficult challenge. We are told at the end of the parable that we will be forgiven only if we ourselves forgive others! I use this particular gospel passage often in preaching "parish missions," especially on the night we have the Penance Service. It is there, while hearing individual confessions, that I learn just how difficult people find it to forgive. It can be their parents, spouses, children, bosses, co-workers, religious superiors, pastors, professional people..... I use a form of examination of conscience which concentrates on identifying the various people who have hurt one and then forgiving them! The impact shows in what I then hear from individuals. There's really no way to get around this challenge. Perhaps intellectually we can appreciate the fact that hanging on to grudges and resentment and wounds is spiritually, emotionally, psychologically and physically unhealthy, but we still have a hard time forgiving and letting go of those. Peter's question to Jesus shows how grudging even a disciple can be. He wants to set limits on how often he should forgive. Jesus simply tells him he can't do that. Jesus says the same thing to us. AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
54 ms
4
