The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to be grateful for the mercy we have experienced and to live fully by extending forgiveness to all from whom we have received injury.
As we forgive those...
The reading from the deutero-canonical chapters of the Book of Daniel is the Prayer of Azariah.
* [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 is a prayer for guidance and for deliverance.
* [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
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus uses a parable to teach about forgiveness.
* [18:28] A much smaller amount: literally, “a hundred denarii.” A denarius was the normal daily wage of a laborer. The difference between the two debts is enormous and brings out the absurdity of the conduct of the Christian who has received the great forgiveness of God and yet refuses to forgive the relatively minor offenses done to him. * [18:35] The Father’s forgiveness, already given, will be withdrawn at the final judgment for those who have not imitated his forgiveness by their own.3
Nicky Santos, S.J. comments that Jesus’ response of seventy-seven times indicates that they can be no limit put on how much one should forgive. This is because God is always ready to forgive us. However, we will be unable to experience the fruits of this forgiveness if we are unable to forgive one another from the heart.
In the reading today, the servant was unable to experience the fruits of the master’s forgiveness of his debt because of the hardness of his heart as manifested by his unwillingness to forgive his fellow servant. There are times when we are reluctant to forgive someone because we feel we are letting them off the hook for the hurt that they caused us. Little do we realize that, in clinging on to that resentment, we are allowing that person to continue to hurt us many times over. Forgiveness allows us to let go of that hurt and to heal.4
Don Schwager quotes “A daily remedy for our sins,” by Saint 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 18:21-35 notes that Jesus takes Peter through a thought experiment. He refrains from pointing out that Peter is just as likely to need repeated forgiveness. Instead, he tells a parable that helps Peter come to that conclusion on his own. With the help of the debtor in the parable, Jesus shifts Peter’s attention from the faults of his brother to the mercy he himself has received.
God doesn’t treat us the way we often treat one another—especially when we come to him for forgiveness again and again. In fact, each time we muster up the courage to come to him seeking forgiveness, God is delighted. He doesn’t hold up our past sins as a reason to withhold mercy. He’s glad to see us and eager to help us weaken the patterns of sin in our lives. He offers us boundless grace as we take even the smallest step to change for the better. It’s not hard to imagine Peter recognizing himself at the end of this parable. Similarly, it shouldn’t be hard to recognize ourselves as well. Just as God continues to forgive, he expects us to grow in the call to be merciful just as he is merciful (Luke 6:36).6
Friar Jude Winkler notes that Azariah calls upon the mercy of God and the promise to Abraham for mercy even though the people may not deserve deliverance. Hebrew gematria (a form of Jewish numerology) holds 7 as representing infinity indicating Jesus puts no limit on forgiveness. Friar Jude reminds us that our need for forgiveness is greater when we have received greater gifts of the Spirit from God.
Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, comments that we must build on the common “communion of saints” throughout the ages. This is the inherited fruit and gift that is sometimes called the “wisdom tradition.” (In the Catholic Church, we refer to it as the Big Tradition and it is held in the same esteem as Holy Scripture.) It is not always inherited simply by belonging to one group or religion. It largely depends on how informed, mature, and experienced our particular teachers are. CAC faculty member Barbara Holmes honors the wisdom she has been gifted by the teachers in her own faith and culture.
I know that African foremothers and forefathers would have referred to the assembled leaders [in my book Liberation and the Cosmos] as ancestors and that the place would be understood to be “beyond the veil.” Although some folks use a very narrow definition of the word ancestor, I use the word as an indicator of legacy and interconnections. The ancestors are elders who pour their lives into the community as a libation of love and commitment. They live and die well, and when they transition, they do so in full connection with an engaged community. Thereafter, they dwell in the spaces carved out by our spiritual and cultural expectations. They may be in another life dimension, but they connect with us in dreams, in memories, and in stories. . . .7
Our journey involves experience of deliverance and forgiveness through which we receive the grace to follow Jesus in extending mercy to all.
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