Scripture for Mass
Sirach 27:30-28:7
Psalm: 103(102): 1-2. 3-4. 9-10. 11-12. Response: 8
Romans: 14:7-9
Matthew 18:21-35
“To err is human, to forgive divine,” according to the eighteenth-century English poet Alexander Pope.
Yet, there is the commonly held belief among Christians that if we don’t forgive other people, then God won’t forgive us. In other words, God demands that we first put things right in our relationships and then he will reward us with his mercy. However, since putting things right by our own efforts always proves an impossible task, how are we going to become eligible to receive God’s forgiveness?
Today’s gospel parable offers us a way out of this dilemma. The master does not reward the servant who owed him a huge debt with forgiveness because he had already forgiven his fellow servant who owed him a petty sum. No, he forgives him his debt simply because he asked that he and his family be spared from destitution and slavery.
Sadly, that servant was unable to recognise and give thanks for that astonishing gift. And since he overlooked such an extraordinary blessing, he was incapable of celebrating it and sharing it with others. Such serious omissions became the cause of his downfall.
God has already forgiven all our sins, not just in our past, but also in our future. Through his death on the cross, Jesus cancelled all our transgressions. Like that servant in the gospel story, he took pity on us and saved us from destitution and slavery.
What is our response to such an astonishing gift going to be? Will we imitate the indifference and ingratitude of that servant and conduct our relationships filled with a sense of self-righteousness and smugness? Or will we celebrate the extraordinary blessing we have freely received and share it generously with our companions who are fallible and frail like us?
Compassionate and merciful God, look with pity on us, your servants, who are weak and sinful.
May the humble recognition of our faults and failings lead us to acknowledge our total dependence on you.
Grant us the grace never to doubt your infinite goodness and kindness, and never to take for granted your boundless mercy and forgiveness.
May our gratitude for your abundant blessings lead us to share them freely and generously with those who cross our path in life, so that others may come to know you and praise you.
We ask this through Jesus who gave up his life so that all of us might be reconciled to you and to one another.
Amen.
Fr. Tim Mulroy
