The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to seek refuge in living in accord with the Will of God especially as people who practice forgiveness.
A forgiving Spirit
The reading from the Book of Joshua describes the priests who bore the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord and stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.
* [3:15] Season of the harvest: toward the end of March and the beginning of April, when the barley and other crops that grew during the rainy season of winter were reaped. The crossing took place “on the tenth day of the first month” of the Hebrew year, which began with the first new moon after the spring equinox; cf. 4:19. At this time of the year the Jordan would be swollen as a result of the winter rains and the melting snow of Mount Hermon.1
Psalm 114 praises God’s Wonders at the Exodus.
* [Psalm 114] A hymn celebrating Israel’s escape from Egypt, journey through the wilderness, and entry into the promised land, and the miracles of nature that bore witness to God’s presence in their midst. In the perspective of the Psalm, the people proceed directly from Egypt into the promised land (Ps 114:1–2). Sea and Jordan, which stood like soldiers barring the people from their land, flee before the mighty God as the earth recoils from the battle (Ps 114:3–4). The poet taunts the natural elements as one taunts defeated enemies (Ps 114:5–6).2
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus teaches Forgiveness in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.
* [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
Mary Lee Brock comments that praying to ask for the ability to forgive brings her to a sense of peace as she deeply feels God’s abiding love for her. God invites us to trust in that love just as the Israelites in our first reading showed great trust as they safely walked across the Jordan.
Today I pray with gratitude for the many lessons I have learned in this journey to forgiveness. I pray for a spirit of curiosity so I can better understand the perspective of another. I pray to resist the temptation to use my words to wound someone directly or indirectly. I pray in thanksgiving for people who are in my life now and those who touched my life in the past.4
Don Schwager quotes “How often shall I forgive? “by Hilary of Poitiers (315-367 AD).
"When Peter asked him whether he should forgive his brother sinning against him up to seven times, the Lord replied, 'Not up to seven times but up to seventy times seven times'" In every way he teaches us to be like him in humility and goodness. In weakening and breaking the impulses of our rampant passions he strengthens us by the example of his leniency, by granting us in faith pardon of all our sins. For the vices of our nature did not merit pardon. Therefore all pardon comes from him. In fact, he pardons even those sins that remain in one after confession. The penalty to be paid through Cain was established at sevenfold, but that sin was against a man, against his brother Abel, to the point of murder (Genesis 4:8). But in Lamech the penalty was established at seventy times seven times (Genesis 4:24), and, as we believe, the penalty was established on those responsible for the Lord's Passion. But the Lord through the confession of believers grants pardon for this crime. By the gift of baptism he grants the grace of salvation to his revilers and persecutors. How much more is it necessary, he shows, that pardon be returned by us without measure or number. And we should not think how many times we forgive, but we should cease to be angry with those who sin against us, as often as the occasion for anger exists. Pardon's frequency shows us that in our case there is never a time for anger, since God pardons us for all sins in their entirety by his gift rather than by our merit. Nor should we be excused from the requirement of giving pardon that number of times [i.e., seventy times seven], since through the grace of the gospel God has granted us pardon without measure." (excerpt from ON MATTHEW 18.10)5
The Word Among Us Meditation on Joshua 3:7-11, 13-17 comments that even today, God chooses priests to cooperate with him in leading his people into the new Promised Land of heaven. Every time we celebrate a sacrament, the priest has a special role. Acting in the person of Christ, he stands as a bridge between heaven and earth. Like those ancient Israelite priests, he stands in the river of God’s grace for us. But it’s not just the priests who act as a bridge. In its own way, the entire Church, the whole body of Christ, is a bridge between heaven and earth. Every one of us shares in the common priesthood of Jesus.
So ask the Lord how you can be a bridge to eternal life. You can start by praying every day for people who you know are far from the Lord. From this place of prayer, ask the Spirit to help you find opportunities to share your faith with those people. And when those opportunities come up, remember Israel’s priests. Take the next step of faith, and watch what God does. “Jesus, show me one way I can be a bridge between earth and heaven today.”6
Friar Jude Winkler comments that the obedience of the Israelites to God’s will is shown in the passage into the Promised Land. Perhaps we can see how those who need forgiveness are hurt by the offense they bring to us. Friar Jude shares about purification in Purgatory.
A post by Franciscan Media on St. Jane Frances de Chanta notes that during a part of her religious life, she had to undergo great trials of the spirit—interior anguish, darkness, and spiritual dryness.
It may strike some as unusual that a saint should be subject to spiritual dryness, darkness, interior anguish. We tend to think that such things are the usual condition of “ordinary” sinful people. Some of our lack of spiritual liveliness may indeed be our fault. But the life of faith is still one that is lived in trust, and sometimes the darkness is so great that trust is pressed to its limit.7
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, shares the work of Episcopal priest and author, Stephanie Spellers, who comments that so much of our American story consists of groups of people protecting themselves and what’s theirs, with a gun or a flag or the cloak of racial, class, or gender privilege. Jesus’s story is exactly the opposite. In this moment, as we reckon with the limits and consequences of self-centrism, domination systems, and the church’s capitulation to empire, we could lean into the Jesus way. We could reclaim kenosis, or perhaps claim it for the first time.
When you take something you possess—your bread and power, your abilities and identities, your comfort and control, your treasured structures and even life itself—and release your attachment to it and make it useful to God’s movement, you are practicing kenosis.8
Forgiveness injects new life into our journey as we move closer to the Will of God for our mission.
References
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