Word to the Wise
Thursday, August 11, 2022 - Thursday in the 19th Week in Ordinary Time
[Ezek 12:1-2 and Matt 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...." [Matthew]
AUGUST 11, ST. CLARE
This conversation is followed by the parable of the unforgiving servant. In the parable, a servant in debt to his master is forgiven a huge debt by his master. But when given the same opportunity to forgive, the servant refuses to do so for a very small debt owed to him by a fellow servant. The master hears about it and calls the first servant to account and reinstates the original debt. The parable ends with the words: "So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."
Those last words should send us back to the Sermon on the Mount and the words of the Lord's Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." We say that prayer thousands of times. If we read the next line, Jesus warns us how serious his challenge is: "If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions."
Part of every parish mission (retreat) that I preach is a Reconciliation Service. The Examination of Conscience is a feature of that service. I use one that focuses on forgiveness and not on a list of sins that one may or may not have committed. Sin always has a face on it. Someone always gets hurt. The Examination of Conscience goes through all the different kinds of relationships we have: self, God, parents, siblings, children,friends, employers, professional folks (doctors, teachers, etc). Last but not least is a prayer to forgive "the one person who has hurt me the most - that one person I swore I would never forgive!" At a parish mission I preached in South Texas, on the morning after the Reconciliation Service, an elderly gentleman approached me and thanked me for the Examination of Conscience because "I was finally able to forgive my mother!"
The Gospel According to Matthew mentions both forgiveness and reconciliation. The two are not the same because reconciliation requires more than one person. Forgiveness does not. We can always forgive or ask for forgiveness. The other party may not be willing to reconcile or may even be deceased. Today's parable challenges us to forgive just as God forgives us. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is only the beginning. AMEN
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