Word to the Wise
Tuesday, February 24, 2015 - 1st Week of Lent - Tues
[Isa 55:10-11 and Matt 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." [Matthew]
I am presently at a parish in Mobile, AL, to preach the first of four parish missions for this Lenten season. Tuesday evening there is usually a Communal Reconciliation Service. At homily time, I ask a question that gets me a chuckle or puzzled look: "How many times in your life have you said the 'Our Father?'" For an older Catholic that would be thousands! Then I point to one line that should stop us in our tracks if we were to give it serious consideration: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us." Then I note that Jesus adds the words that I quote above almost as if he wants to highlight the earlier line. Later on in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells the parable of the Unforgiving Servant [Matt. 18:21-35]. The servant who receives mercy and refuses to give mercy will in turn lose the mercy originally given!
How good are we at forgiving? I am not speaking yet of reconciliation. To forgive requires just us. We can always forgive. We can't control reconciliation because that requires another person to make the effort as well. But we can control forgiveness. That is the direct challenge of the Lord's Prayer. It all comes down to the merciful example of the Lord himself who forgave his persecutors on the cross!
I use an examination of conscience at the service that takes the people through all the important relationships in their lives and asks where forgiveness should be given or sought. It has an important impact. A Lent in which we learn to forgive could be life-changing. We have the Lord's word for it. AMEN
[The Beloved Congregation can view a parish mission I preached in 2009 on this at <www.rbwords.com/retreats>]