Sir. 27:30- 28:7; Ps. 103:1-4, 9-12; Rom.14:7-9; Mt. 18:21-35
God is mercy and mercy is forgiveness! “Remember your last days” before you proclaim “no justice no peace”. We are called to “forgive your neighbor’s injustice”. Why do we “hug them tight” our wrath and anger when they are the poison of death while others remain alive? In part, it is because we fail to see ourselves in the sinner. In the heart we give thanks we are not like them and justify our “’righteousness” for anger and vengeance.
False righteousness is like rejecting the leper for his visible disease while walking in ignorance of the invisible cancer growing inside. “Remember death and decay and cease to sin!” Jesus likened “the kingdom of heaven” to a king who “settles accounts with his servants” and whether “we live or die we are the Lord’s” with an account in need of justice.
Justice is the offering of Jesus for our sins to the merciful. It is conditional on our forgiveness of our brothers and sisters, neighbors and strangers “from the heart” for the injustice. Jesus speaks to the disciples that “heaven is likened…(to) his master (who) handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt”. As servants of the Lord there is a place for those who fail to forgive for their debt which as a Catholic church we identify as purgatory. Purgatory is for the chosen who remain with the stain of sin of unforgiveness among others.
We live in times when the streets proclaim “no justice no peace” seeking reparation for a history of people who have long passed from the earth. Some believe you can be the victim of other’s history standing in for another’s suffering with expectation of compensation as an entitlement. They “hold them tight” wrath and anger for a historical identity as victims without personal sacrifice of suffering in the name of social justice. This is likened to blaming God for the sin of Adam and Eve for falling into a world of sin and suffering. It is a ludicrous philosophy of victimization for all creation.
Who do we need to forgive? It begins in the domestic church, husbands and wives must forgive each other from the heart; children forgive parents for imperfect parenting at best and abandonment or abuse at worse; forgive our friends and neighbors who we have stopped talking with. The root of forgiveness lies at the seed of love from the home. It begins with a decision to forgive and a prayer of petition to receive the grace of forgiveness in the heart. We don’t wait for a feeling to forgive to arrive before forgiving. We act on the command of God to forgive and trust God with our heart to bring us peace.
It is said by the grace of God many have not seen the inside of a prison. Among those who have been imprisoned some leave more vengeful than before to commit more crime while others are humbled to never return. One man appeared on AGT (America’s Got Talent) telling his story of being convicted of a crime against a woman who identified him as the perpetrator. He had three witnesses who testified he was home at the time of the crime but was convicted and served 37 years in prison before DNA proved his innocence. Singing kept him hopeful with courage to persevere. Released his dream to appear on AGT came true as a man of peace. He survived because his heart was not imprisoned by the walls of wrath and anger. Many more live outside the walls of prison but their hearts are imprisoned by wrath and anger while they hold tight the key of freedom, the choice of forgiveness. Choose forgiveness and receive mercy.
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