Homily Thoughts for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A
Although Deacon Pat is preaching today, as I was praying with today's Gospel, a startling thought occured to me: perhaps we don't really want to be forgiven by God. This certainly sounds strange, but if we aren't forgiven, then we don't have to engage in the messy and difficult business of forgiveness ourselves.
Or, looking at the parable more closely, perhaps we don't realize the extent of God's mercy in our lives, making us hesitant to forgive others. Certainly, the servant in the parable could never pay back the debt he owed. But to a wealthy master, even such a large sum must have been negligible. Perhaps the servant resented a master who could apparently forgive so easily. Whatever his motive, he refuses to forgive his fellow servant.
Are we like the wicked servant, refusing to forgive because we have received God's forgiveness so blithely? "It is not so much for God to forgive," we reason, since "God is all-powerful and all-merciful." Perhaps our folly extends to presumption: "God must forgive me."
The Cross stands in clear and stark disctinction to our expectations of God. God has spent everything on our behalf; He has given up His beloved Son to suffering and death just so that we might be forgiven. Until we know intimately the means of our salvation, we will never be able to forgive even one time, let alone the seventy-seven times of perfect forgiveness.
What to do? Experience the forgiveness and mercy of God in the Sacrament of Penance. That's the best and most direct route to experience the forgiveness of God. When we continually cast ourselves at the merciful feet of our Lord, even monthly, we grow in appreciation of just how much we are loved by God, and what His forgiveness means in our lives. We begin to examine our consciences more closely -- even daily. We begin to see the truth about ourselves and experience the power and extent of the Cross.
Then we will start to really forgive others.
I will continue to hear Confessions from 8:00 am until the 9:00 Mass on most weekdays, usually except for Thursday. I also have been celebrating a Saturday morning Mass at 8:00 am; please join us!
Or, looking at the parable more closely, perhaps we don't realize the extent of God's mercy in our lives, making us hesitant to forgive others. Certainly, the servant in the parable could never pay back the debt he owed. But to a wealthy master, even such a large sum must have been negligible. Perhaps the servant resented a master who could apparently forgive so easily. Whatever his motive, he refuses to forgive his fellow servant.
Are we like the wicked servant, refusing to forgive because we have received God's forgiveness so blithely? "It is not so much for God to forgive," we reason, since "God is all-powerful and all-merciful." Perhaps our folly extends to presumption: "God must forgive me."
The Cross stands in clear and stark disctinction to our expectations of God. God has spent everything on our behalf; He has given up His beloved Son to suffering and death just so that we might be forgiven. Until we know intimately the means of our salvation, we will never be able to forgive even one time, let alone the seventy-seven times of perfect forgiveness.
What to do? Experience the forgiveness and mercy of God in the Sacrament of Penance. That's the best and most direct route to experience the forgiveness of God. When we continually cast ourselves at the merciful feet of our Lord, even monthly, we grow in appreciation of just how much we are loved by God, and what His forgiveness means in our lives. We begin to examine our consciences more closely -- even daily. We begin to see the truth about ourselves and experience the power and extent of the Cross.
Then we will start to really forgive others.
I will continue to hear Confessions from 8:00 am until the 9:00 Mass on most weekdays, usually except for Thursday. I also have been celebrating a Saturday morning Mass at 8:00 am; please join us!
posted by Andrew Bloomfield @ 7:56 AM
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