Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD's vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven. Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins? Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12)
Refrain: The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
1) Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. (Refrain:)
2) He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction, he crowns you with kindness and compassion. (Refrain:)
3) He will not always chide, nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes. (Refrain:)
4) For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us. (Refrain:)
SECOND READING (Romans 14:7-9)
Brothers and sisters: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized one of his fellow servants and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."
(Copyright 1970, 1986, 1992, 1998, 2001 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Copyright 1970, 1997, 1998 Contraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc. Washington, D.C. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
The English translation of some Psalm responses, some Alleluia and Gospel verses and the Lenten Gospel Acclamations, some Summaries, and the Titles and Conclusion of the Readings, from the Lectionary for Mass copyright 1968, 1981, 1997, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc., Washington D.C. All rights reserved.
The poetic English translation of the sequences of the Roman Missal are taken from the Roman Missal approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States, copyright 1964 by the National Catholic Welfare Conference, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission of ICEL.)
- There once was a couple who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with all their guests when a granddaughter asked her grandma “What’s your secret to such a long and happy marriage?” Grandma explained, "On my wedding day I decided to make a list of ten of my husband's faults, which, for the sake of the marriage, I would overlook and forgive." The girl asked for some examples of those faults, to which the grandmother replied, "To tell you the truth, I never did get around to making the list. But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I'd say to myself, “Lucky for him, that's on my list!"
Today’s gospel passage begins with Peter’s question about how often we should forgive. In his commentary on this passage, William Barclay notes that it was Rabbinic teaching that someone must forgive another three times. Thus, in suggesting the number “seven”, he points out that Peter probably thought that he was being very generous in taking the three times suggested by the Rabbis, multiplying it by two, adding one for good measure, and suggesting, with eager self-satisfaction, that it will be enough if he forgives seven times. Peter expected to be warmly commended; but Jesus's answer was that the Christian must forgive seventy times seven. In other words there is no measurable limit to forgiveness. (1)
Our Lord then goes on to talk about the servant who owed his master “a huge amount”. The Greek from which this translation comes (murione talentone) means countless - or specifically 10,000 - talents. Although the exact value of one talent cannot be known, some have placed it at 6000 denarii. Since a normal day’s wage in the time of our Lord was one denarius, one talent alone was the equivalent of almost sixteen and one-half years of labor. Thus, 10,000 talents is really an incredible amount. Now the enormity of this amount would serve to further emphasize the truth of what follows: first of all, that “the servant had no way of paying it back”; secondly, that even if the servant, his wife and children and all of his possessions were sold, the amount generated by this sale would hardly put a dent in the debt; and finally, that the words of the servant “Be patient with me and I will pay you back in full” would ring hollow because there is just no way that he could ever in his wildest dreams repay this amount of money.
On the other hand, when the forgiven servant encounters another servant who owes him 100 denarii (or about a hundred days’ wages), that servant begs forgiveness using the same words that the other servant used in seeking forgiveness from the king. The key difference here is that the fellow servant would be fully able to repay the debt given the necessary time to do so. But instead of recalling the forgiveness of the king from which he had benefitted and doing likewise, the forgiven servant has the fellow servant thrown into prison (where that servant will have no hope of repaying the debt). At this point, the other servants see what has happened and report these events to the king.
Now, believe it or not, there is a great deal of similarity between this passage and last week’s. First of all, notice that the king deals with the debtor in private. But once the servant has had his fellow servant thrown into prison, then the familial and communal harmony promoted by the king’s forgiveness has been broken. Furthermore, the servant has made his king look like a fool by not passing on his forgiveness to others. And finally, what was once so private has now become very public. Thus, in order to protect his own honor, the king has no choice but to put the unforgiving servant in his proper place - in jail!
So what are the implications of this passage for our lives? First of all, our Lord is teaching us that there is no limit to the number of times we must forgive one another. Secondly, he points out that forgiveness is communal. Everything we do has effects on the wider community, including forgiveness. What happened between the king and the servant, and then between the two servants also had effects on the other servants in the household who were upset at seeing how the one servant treated his fellow servant. It is the same in our lives.
We will never forget where we were when we got the news of the first airplane strike on September 11, 2001, just as we won’t ever forget (if we’re old enough to remember) where we were when we heard President Kennedy had been shot or the shuttle Challenger had exploded. Our lives will never be the same even if we did not lose an immediate family member in it.
The thing that was so remarkable to me was that our Masses on the following Sunday were as packed as they would normally be on Christmas or Easter. Why was this? I believe it was because we were all trying to make sense out of these senseless tragedies. We needed strength and guidance, so we turned to one another in community and to our faith.
There are many stories that have come out of the tragedies of September 11th, but probably none more compelling than that of the passengers of Flight 93 which crashed in the Pennsylvania countryside. And out of them all, the most remarkable story for me was that of Todd Beamer, who lived with his wife, Lisa, and their children in Cranbury, NJ, not far from here. The following story about his actions on that plane appeared in Newsweek in December 2001.
- "I don't think we're going to get out of this thing. I'm going to have to go out on faith." It was the voice of Todd Beamer who said "Let's roll" as he led the charge against the terrorists who had hijacked United Flight 93.
Anyone who has read anything about this flight knows how brave Beamer and his fellow passengers were on September 11th. But we recently learned more fully what buttressed that bravery: faith in Jesus Christ. In an article entitled "The Real Story of Flight 93," Newsweek revealed gripping new details from the actual transcripts of the now-recovered cockpit voice recorder. "Todd had been afraid," Newsweek related. "More than once, he cried out for his Savior."
After he and some of the other passengers were herded to the back of the jet, Beamer called the GTE Customer Center in Oakbrook, Illinois. He told supervisor Lisa Jefferson about the hijacking. The passengers were planning to jump the terrorists, he said. And then he asked her to pray with him.
As Newsweek related, "Beamer kept a Lord's Prayer bookmark in his Tom Clancy novel, but he didn't need any prompting. He began to recite the ancient litany, and Jefferson joined him: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."........
As they finished, Beamer added, "Jesus, help me."
And then, he turned to his fellow passengers and prayed a prayer that has comforted millions down through the centuries, the prayer that David wrote in a time of great anguish: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want...Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil.” And then he uttered those now-famous last words: "Are you guys ready? Let's roll."
We now know from the cockpit voice recorder that Beamer and other passengers wrestled with the hijackers and forced the plane to crash into the ground, killing themselves but foiling what was believed to have been the hijackers' plan to fly Flight 93 into the Capitol Building or the White House.
As Christians, we know that God can bring good out of evil. In Todd Beamer, the world witnessed a faith that held up in the extremity of fear, a faith that comforted his widow and children. Lisa Beamer told NBC's Dateline, "You know, in the Lord's prayer, it asks us to forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. As Todd prayed this prayer in the last moments of his life, in a way, Lisa said, "He was forgiving those people for what they were doing, the most horrible thing you could ever do to someone." (2)
When asked about her own ability to forgive, she said: “Forgiveness is a process. It's not something where all of a sudden you wake up one day and say: 'OK, I forgive them.' You need time. You need perspective and growth. But it's something that over the course of time I feel confident will be resolved. I can say I don't hold a lot of bitterness or anger. Those things would be detrimental to me and my family, and the terrorists have certainly taken enough from us. I'm not going to let them take any more.”
To me, this story speaks directly to today's gospel passage: Todd drew strength from his community, namely, the others who would storm the cockpit with him; and he forgave the hijackers, as his wife Lisa attested.
As we remember the date which will certainly live in infamy along with December 7th, 1941 in the United States, we can do no better than to follow Todd’s example. First of all, we need to draw strength from our faith communities and know that we are not alone in remembering these tragedies and trying to overcome the effects they have inevitably had on our lives. Secondly, we need to forgive the hijackers because it is only through forgiveness that we rise above the anger and hatred of these men.
Is it easy to do? Of course not. It flies in the face of all of the feelings that are innate to our being, namely revenge, justice and “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”. But it wasn’t easy for our Lord whose first words from the cross were “Father, forgive them. They know not what they do”. And he wasn’t referring to the Roman soldiers who put him there; he was speaking to us whose sins put him there. And he said this while he was suffering an unbelievable agony on the cross. The least we can do is extend that forgiveness to others for “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart".
References:
1. In Community Is Strength. From The Sower’s Seeds, by Brian Cavanaugh, T. O. R., p. 72. Paulist Press, Mahwah, NJ 07430: 1990. Used with permission.
2. From “the Faith of Todd Beamer” at http://www.wtv-zone.com/Blulady/9-11pages/FaithofToddBeamer.html .
(Copyright 2017 by the Spirit through Deacon Sil Galvan, with a little help from the friends noted above. Permission is freely granted for oral use in whole or in part in local communities. For permission to use in written form, please contact the human intermediary at deaconsil@comcast.net )
There once was a couple who were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary with all their guests when a granddaughter asked her grandma "What's your secret to such a long and happy marriage?" Grandma explained, "On my wedding day I decided to make a list of ten of my husband's faults, which, for the sake of the marriage, I would overlook and forgive". The girl asked for some examples of those faults, to which the grandmother replied, "To tell you the truth, I never did get around to making the list. But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I'd say to myself, "Lucky for him, that's on my list!"
In last week's gospel, our Lord introduced the concept of community. As you may recall, he advises someone in the community who has been wronged to go and talk to his brother in private. Only if that fails, does the offended party bring in others from the community to help him to resolve the situation. Then our Lord goes on to tell his disciples that the prayer of two or more will always be answered by his heavenly Father and that wherever two or more are gathered in his name, there he is also present among them. And, as I mentioned last week, in believing that these words of Jesus are true, we become a community of believers.
Now today's gospel passage begins with Peter's question about how often we should forgive. In his commentary on this passage, William Barclay notes that it was Rabbinic teaching that someone must forgive another three times. Thus, in suggesting the number "seven", he points out that Peter probably thought that he was being very generous in taking the three times suggested by the Rabbis, multiplying it by two, adding one for good measure, and suggesting, with eager self-satisfaction, that it will be enough if he forgives seven times. Peter expected to be warmly commended; but Jesus's answer was that the Christian must forgive seventy times seven. In other words there is no measurable limit to forgiveness. (1)
Our Lord then goes on to talk about the servant who owed his master "a huge amount". The Greek from which this translation comes (murione talentone) means countless - or specifically 10,000 - talents. Although the exact value of one talent cannot be known, some have placed it at 6000 denarii. Since a normal day's wage in the time of our Lord was one denarius, one talent alone was the equivalent of almost sixteen and one-half years of labor. Thus, 10,000 talents is really an incredible amount. Now the enormity of this amount would serve to further emphasize the truth of what follows: first of all, that "the servant had no way of paying it back"; secondly, that even if the servant, his wife and children and all of his possessions were sold, the amount generated by this sale would hardly put a dent in the debt; and finally, that the words of the servant "Be patient with me and I will pay you back in full" would ring hollow because there is just no way that he could ever in his wildest dreams repay this amount of money.
On the other hand, when the forgiven servant encounters another servant who owes him 100 denarii (or about a hundred days' wages), that servant begs forgiveness using the same words that the other servant used in seeking forgiveness from the king. The key difference here is that the fellow servant would be fully able to repay the debt given the necessary time to do so. But instead of recalling the forgiveness of the king from which he had benefitted and doing likewise, the forgiven servant has the fellow servant thrown into prison (where that servant will have no hope of repaying the debt). At this point, the other servants see what has happened and report these events to the king.
Now, believe it or not, there is a great deal of similarity between this passage and last week's. First of all, notice that the king deals with the debtor in private. But once the servant has had his fellow servant thrown into prison, then the familial and communal harmony promoted by the king's forgiveness has been broken. Furthermore, the servant has made his king look like a fool by not passing on his forgiveness to others. And finally, what was once so private has now become very public. Thus, in order to protect his own honor, the king has no choice but to put the unforgiving servant in his proper place - in jail!
So what are the implications of this passage for our lives? First of all, our Lord is teaching us that there is no limit to the number of times we must forgive one another. I believe the following story brings this down to our level very well. The author writes:
- My daughter and I had one of those blow-ups that aren't particularly rare during a child's teen-age years. I don't remember the substance of the argument, only that it ended with a stinging comment by her that left me fuming as she stormed off to her bedroom. The meanness of the remark was not characteristic of her, but during that difficult adolescent stage, it happened quite a bit, so I wasn't surprised, but I was angry. I knew exactly what was going on in her mind and what would happen next. She would soon be sorry for what she said and would eventually apologize. But I was determined to teach her the lesson that you can't just go popping off, hurting people, and then come back and be forgiven just like that. I briefly wrestled with my conscience over this, but my conscience lost. Sure enough, after a short time, Libby appeared, sniffling and visibly contrite. I steeled myself as she asked for forgiveness.
"Mom?" she added in a small voice when I gave no response.
"Listen!" I heard myself snap at her, "do you think you can talk to me like that and then come back and have me say, oh, that's OK? I have feelings, too, and I don't feel very forgiving right now!"
Well, revenge was not sweet. As I saw the look of devastation on her face, I immediately felt ashamed. What lesson had I taught her? That when you are truly sorry and ask forgiveness, the person you love and trust most will slap you down? My daughter and I have always had a close, loving relationship, and we repaired the damage when I finally asked her forgiveness for my being so unforgiving. But I was the one who learned the lesson: yes, you do have to stand there and take the shots and say it's okay - seventy times seven times, if necessary. (2)
The second point of the parable is that forgiveness is communal. Everything we do has effects on the wider community, including forgiveness. What happened between the king and the servant, and then between the two servants also had effects on the other servants in the household who were upset at seeing how the one servant treated his fellow servant. It is the same in our lives. Again, I believe the following story addresses this point. This author writes:
- One day a seven-year-old boy was riding in the back seat of the car. Suddenly, in a fit of anger, his mother, who was driving, spun around and struck him across the face. Then she yelled at him: "And you! I never wanted you. The only reason I had you was to keep your father. But then he left anyway. I hate you." That scene branded itself on the boy's memory. During the years that followed, his mother reinforced her feelings toward him by constantly finding fault with him. Years later, that son told a friend: "I can't tell you how many times in the ensuing years I have relived that experience. Probably thousands." Then he added: "But recently I put myself in my mother's shoes. Here she was, a high school graduate with no money, no job, and a family to support. I realized how lonely and depressed she must have felt. I thought of the anger and the pain that must have been there. And I thought of how much I reminded her of the failure of her young hopes. And so one day I went to visit her and told her that I understood her feelings and that I loved her just the same. She broke down and we wept in each other's arms for what seemed like hours. It was the beginning of a new life for me, for her, and for us." (3)
Although this author doesn't mention it, I'm sure his reconciliation with his mother had other effects on his relationships with other people in his life. As Sirach states so wisely in the first reading, "Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord?" As study after study has found, forgiveness benefits not only the person forgiven but the person forgiving. The relationship of the mother in our first story with her daughter may have been severely or irreparably damaged if she herself had not asked forgiveness for her insensitive remarks. And the son in our second story might never have experienced that new relationship with his mother if he had not taken the first step towards reconciliation. After all, as finite human beings, any of us could be called from this life at any moment and thus leave wounds unhealed.
In every liturgy before we share in the Eucharist, we recite the words of the Lord's Prayer "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". Before we share in com-munion, that is, in being united with others around the table of the Lord, we must seek forgiveness for our sins from God and then grant that same forgiveness to others who have hurt us, as the servant in the parable was so unwilling to do. Only then will we truly become a "Com-munity" of Forgivers.
1. From The Gospel of Matthew, copyright 1975 by William Barclay, St. Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland. Used with permission.
2. From the Word by Jean Denton. Catholic News Service. Used with permission.
3. The Forgiving Son from Putting Forgiveness Into Practice by Doris Donnelly. Reprinted with permission from Illustrated Sunday Homilies, copyright 1989 by Mark Link, SJ. Resources for Christian Living, Allen, TX.
(Copyright 2014 by the Spirit through Deacon Sil Galvan, with a little help from the friends noted above. Permission is freely granted for oral use in whole or in part in local communities. For permission to use in written form, please contact the human intermediary at deaconsil@comcast.net )
- Cultural World of Jesus, esp. idea of money and friendship in the marketplace
Alternate opening joke:
- There is a story told about two boys who were fighting, when one of them told the other "I'll never speak to you again". With that, he stormed off to his house, as did the other boy, and they didn't come out again all day. However, the next day, the two were playing as if nothing had ever happened. One of their mothers asked her son why they were speaking to each other once again. Her son said "Me and Johnny are good forgetters". (Excerpted from King's Treasury of Dynamic Humor, copyright 1990 by King Duncan, Seven Worlds Corporation, Knoxville, TN. Used with permission.
TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)
Lord Jesus, you call us to forgive one another as you have forgiven us. Lord, have mercy.
Christ Jesus, you are kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in compassion. Christ, have mercy.
Lord Jesus, you pardon all our iniquities and heal all of our ills. Lord, have mercy.
TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (A)
Celebrant: Trusting in the compassion of a merciful God who has forgiven us our sins, we confidently bring our prayers and petitions before him.
Deacon/Lector: Our response is "Lord, teach us to forgive."
That the leaders of the Church will teach the gospel of forgiveness with conviction and compassion, we pray to the Lord.
That the leades of the nations of the world will do all in their power to bring peace on earth and end the war in Ukraine, we pray to the Lord.
For all fire fighters, emergency rescue teams and police officers who risk their lives to save others, we pray to the Lord.
That forgiveness will replace hatred, and mercy will replace vengeance, in areas torn by war and violence, especially in the Middle East, we pray to the Lord.
That the sick, the terminally ill and those who are grieving the loss of a loved one will be at peace with God, we pray to the Lord.
That all of our brothers and sisters will be treated as our equals in the site of God regardless of their race, color, nationality or religion, we pray to the Lord.
For all of the intentions we hold in our hearts and which we now recall in silence. (Pause) For all of these intentions, we pray to the Lord.
Celebrant: Merciful Father, through his death on the cross, your Son brought forgiveness to a world separated from you by sin. Just as he brought about reconciliation between heaven and earth, so may we bring about reconciliation with one another through our acts of forgiveness. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. Amen.