Word to the Wise
Tuesday, February 20, 2024 - 1st Week of Lent - Tues
[Isa 55:10-11 and Matt 6:7-15,299]"....and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.... 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]
The first part of the quotation will be familiar to us! We pray it probably thousands of times. We pray for forgiveness and we may go to the sacrament of God's mercy and forgiveness - the Sacrament of Reconciliation. However, do we pay attention to the words that we are saying? Are we really asking to be forgiven to the extent that WE forgive? The second half of the quote comes right after the words "deliver us from evil." We don't say that second half but it's right there in the same size of type. It's not a footnote. It reinforces the necessity to forgive others if we expect God to forgive us. So, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is really only the first step! Just a bit earlier in the Sermon on the Mount (before the Lord's Prayer), at 5:23-24, Jesus challenges us to reconciliation even before we go to worship!. He even provides a parable to help us later on in the Gospel According to Matthew at 18:21-35 (the parable of the Unforgiving Servant.) He also offers us a genuine process of reconciliation at Matthew 18:15-20.
All of this is more than a hint. It goes to the heart of Jesus' teaching about love of God AND neighbor. The season of Lent challenges us, in the words of the prophet Joel (which we heard on Ash Wednesday), to "rend your hearts and not your garments..." The end of the parable of the Unforgiving Servant tells us we must forgive from our heart. Can we do that? AMEN