Word to the Wise
Thursday, June 16, 2022 - Thursday in the 11th Week in Ordinary Time
[Sir 48:1-14 and Matt 6:7-15]"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." [Matthew]
We pray the prayer that Jesus taught us - the "Our Father" - probably thousands of times in our Catholic life, but we don't go beyond it to the words that immediately follow it and are quoted above. Yet, in the very prayer we say the words, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." The words quoted above simply highlight what we have asked God to do. The question is whether or not we do our part?
If we fast-forward in the Gospel According to Matthew to chapter 18, we will find the parable of the Unforgiving Servant [18:21-35]. The parable follows a question from Peter, "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.'" Then Jesus presents the parable of a servant who is forgiven a huge debt by his master, but refuses to forgive a fellow servant a minor debt.
The Sacrament of Reconciliation does not end with the absolution received from the priest. We become a part of that sacrament when we forgive as well. Earlier in the same chapter, Jesus presents a whole process of reconciliation to follow [18:15-20] At the end of the parable, he warns us that the fate of the unforgiving servant will be ours if we do not forgive others.
The "Our Father" may be a comforting prayer to us, but it is also a challenging one, which could make us uncomfortable if we take it seriously. Do we? AMEN