Cycles of Commitment

The prayer of Azariah in the text from the third chapter of Daniel from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today is a reminder of the cycle of attention and neglect with which the relationship with the Divine is lived. As the passage reveals, we seek to implore God to restore our intimacy in those times of desolation when we find “We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader, no holocaust, sacrifice, oblation, or incense, no place to offer first fruits, to find favour with you” (Daniel 3:38). Azariah and the psalmist appeal to the nature of God who they have known for steadfast love, mercy, leader and teacher of the humble to become a part of their lives again. The Gospel of Matthew reaffirms the mercy and forgiveness of God through the responses of Jesus to Peter’s questions on the how much we need to forgive. The parable of the unforgiving servant indicates that the life of those who are not forgiving will be separate from the deep intimacy with the Divine. In his bestselling story of his personal relationship with God, the Shack, William Young presents the essential need to forgive as the means we must use to grow and move in our journey toward the experience of intimacy with the Divine. The prayer phrase “as we forgive those who trespass against us” is truth and mission.