The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to be as merciful as our Heavenly Father is merciful.
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| Broken relationships and forgiveness |
The reading from the Book of Daniel is the prayer of Azariah for mercy to Israel.
* [3:24–90] These verses are additions to the Aramaic text of Daniel, translated from the Greek form of the book. They were probably first composed in Hebrew or Aramaic, but are no longer extant in the original language. The Roman Catholic Church has always regarded them as part of the canonical Scriptures.1
Psalm 25 contains expressions of confidence in God who forgives and guides.
* [Psalm 25] A lament. Each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Such acrostic Psalms are often a series of statements only loosely connected. The psalmist mixes ardent pleas (Ps 25:1–2, 16–22) with expressions of confidence in God who forgives and guides.2
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant is from the Gospel of Matthew.
* [18:21–35] The final section of the discourse deals with the forgiveness that the disciples are to give to their fellow disciples who sin against them. To the question of Peter how often forgiveness is to be granted (Mt 18:21), Jesus answers that it is to be given without limit (Mt 18:22) and illustrates this with the parable of the unmerciful servant (Mt 18:23–34), warning that his heavenly Father will give those who do not forgive the same treatment as that given to the unmerciful servant (Mt 18:35). Mt 18:21–22 correspond to Lk 17:4; the parable and the final warning are peculiar to Matthew. That the parable did not originally belong to this context is suggested by the fact that it really does not deal with repeated forgiveness, which is the point of Peter’s question and Jesus’ reply.3
Luis Rodriguez, S.J. comments a German movie in the 60’s had the initially intriguing title 491, which was based precisely on the wording variance of today’s gospel reading. According to that variance, one must forgive 70x7= 490 times. So, if someone offends me for the 491st time, am I off the hook? Number games are not the point of the passage. Both 70 and 70x7 convey the idea of as many times as needed.
Forgiveness is humanly difficult, because something in us has been hurt or even destroyed. Trying to reason ourselves into forgiving will not work, because reasoning addresses the head, whereas the difficulty in forgiving comes from the heart and we cannot give head answers to heart questions. The only solid ground in faith is the awareness of our having been forgiven first and this is what today’s parable of the unforgiving debtor addresses. Not only have we been forgiven a great offense or great offenses, but God’s forgiveness continues to be at work even now, because all things, even past things, are present to God now. What to us is a past offense is present to God today and it continues to be forgiven now. This awareness has to be a sustained attitude in our lives, not something we can improvise ad hoc.4
Don Schwager quotes “A daily remedy for our sins,” by Augustine of Hippo, 354-430 A.D.
"Forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. Let us say this sentence with sincerity, because it is an alms in itself. Sins that oppress and bury us cannot be termed trifles! What is more minute than drops of rain? Yet they fill the rivers. What is more minute than grains of wheat? Yet they fill the barns. You note the fact that these sins are rather small, but you do not take note that there are many of them. In any case, God has given us a daily remedy for them." (excerpt from Sermon 205,1)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Matthew 18:21-25 comments that C. S. Lewis said that the best way to be ready to forgive weighty things is to start by forgiving smaller things.
If your spouse forgets a special day, forgive them. If your coworker is inconsiderate, forgive them. If your child leaves dirty clothes on the floor, forgive them. You might even try doing something kind for the person you’re forgiving! Those acts will soften your heart and prepare you to forgive even greater things.
“Lord, help me forgive as you have forgiven me. St. Patrick, pray for me!”6
Friar Jude Winkler shares the thoughts of Azariah in the furnace that Israel had lost its prince, prophet, and leader. The perfect number for Hebrews is 7, indicating a need to forgive an infinite number of times. Friar Jude reminds us of the brokenness of those who we need to forgive.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, quotes Author and Dominican priest Albert Nolan, who has written many prophetic works that bring attention to systems of oppression throughout the world. Nolan comments that reading the signs of his times would have been an integral part of Jesus’ spirituality… In Jesus’ view, it would only be a matter of time before the Roman armies felt sufficiently provoked to attack and destroy Jerusalem. . . .
Jesus, reading the signs of the times from the perspective of a Galilean peasant, would have seen that this spiral of violence held no hope for the poor and the oppressed. The people were powerless and helpless [and the victims of huge structural violence which is largely invisible except to those who are suffering from it. –RR]
Two thousand years later, prophets still raise their voices against the spirals of violence that continue to rob the poor and the oppressed of hope. Do we even hear them? Are we any more likely to act on their wisdom than our biblical ancestors or do we also dismiss them and their message? I’m afraid it’s the latter, but it is only by choosing the former that we play our part as disciples of Jesus.7
We witness broken situations in our relationships and within organizations. Our relationship with Jesus calls us to be merciful and generous in our forgiveness even as the Spirit shows us the Way.
References
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