Word to the Wise
Thursday, September 18, 2008 - St. Juan Macias, O.P. - Dominican Brother and contemporary of St. Martin de Porres
[1 Corinthians 15:1-11 and Luke 7:36-50]So, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.
The incident in this gospel is truly one of the most powerful preachings about forgiveness to be found in the New Testament! I have used it in penance services at parish missions and elsewhere because of the direct connection that Jesus draws between forgiveness and love. The irony is in the statement by the onlookers, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" Yes, that would be a big theological question, but there's another question they miss. Who is this who can love so much that he will accept the gesture of this woman in washing his feet, drying them with her hair and kissing them? If we find it difficult to love some kinds of people, the chances are that we will find it difficult to forgive them! Yet Jesus tells us that unless we forgive, we cannot expect to be forgiven. To forgive we have to show love and if we have been forgiven little (because we never think we need it) we will have little experience of love! The true danger is in believing that we have little to forgive or to be forgiven. One way to gain access to an understanding of this is to examine our consciences not in the traditional way of looking at actions but rather by looking at the various relationships in our lives. Forgiveness can extend even to the service people who offend us (or whom WE offend)! Would we have the courage to do what this woman did? AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
72 ms
4
