Word to the Wise
Tuesday, March 3, 2009 - Tuesday in the First Week of Lent (St. Katherine Drexel)
[Isaiah 55:10-11 and Matthew 6:7-15]If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.
This evening, as part of a parish mission that I am preaching in a nearby city, I will preside at a "penance service." The structure of the service is nothing unusual. It is like many of its kind: a liturgy of the Word, followed by the Preaching, an Examination of Conscience, and the opportunity for individual confessions. The centerpiece of this service is the particular form of the Examination of Conscience that I use. I acquired it from one of my brethren when he preached a parish mission at a parish where I was pastor some years ago. It focuses on relationships that may have been the source of hurt or destruction - in other words, sin! It calls up various types of people who come ordinarily into our lives and prays that we may be able to forgive any of them who have hurt us and that we will be able to ask forgiveness from any of them whom we have hurt. I use the gospel scripture from Matthew 18:21-35, the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant! The words quoted above come on the heels of Jesus' teaching in the Lord's Prayer: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us... They are basically repeated after the parable about a servant who begged forgiveness from his master for corrupt conduct and then refused to forgive a fellow servant for a minor matter. It seems to me that we often make an examination of conscience based on actions rather than on relationships. These "actions" refer do thing that we do, rather than how these actions may impact others! Forgiveness should be a matter of love, not of law. The Lord's Prayer begins with the words, Our Father, not with "our investigative authority!" In searching our hearts (perhaps "rending" them as the Prophet Joel said on Ash Wednesday) we might want to consider how any action of ours may have hurt another, or how we harbor ill feelings toward someone who has hurt us. Notice that Jesus speaks of forgiving humans and not transgressions! Forgiveness from God is linked to forgiveness from us! Realizing that one thing from The Lord's Prayer could change our lives significantly! That would make this Lent a truly blessed one! AMEN