Word to the Wise
Tuesday, March 9, 2021 - 3rd Week of Lent - Tues
[Dan 3:25, 34-43 and Matt 18:21-35,312]"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]
The parable which follows this statement of Jesus is about the unforgiving servant who refuses to be as merciful to a fellow servant about a debt as he had been shown mercy earlier. I have often used this parable in parish missions along with an Examination of Conscience that focuses on forgiveness rather than sins. At one parish mission, the morning after I had done this, an elderly gentleman approached me and thanked me because I had enabled him at long last to forgive his mother!!!
Many Catholics receive the sacrament of reconciliation and feel that they need not do anything more about the harm they may have done to a friend, neighbor of family member. But sin has a face on it. Forgiveness must extend beyond the sacrament. Earlier in the Gospel According to Matthew in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us to be reconciled with someone who has offended us (or vice versa) before worshiping! Lent offers us the chance to resolve all those forgiveness debts, just as we pray about them in the Lord's Prayer! AMEN