Forgive from the Heart

09-06-2020Weekly Reflection

Sirach or Ecclesiasticus is one of the 7 books recognized by Catholics as inspired and canonical, called Deuterocanonical book, Protestants call it Apocryphal. The book contains the wisdom and experience of the people. The book is divided into three parts. The 1st Part talks about the concept and the use of wisdom. The 2nd Part includes sayings on wisdom as regard its ethical influence on human life, and the higher level of relationship with God. The last or 3rd part is about the praise of the Father of Old from Adam… Sirach 27 contains the admonition about anger, vengeance and forgiveness, which toe the line of the 2nd part of the book, concerning the ethical standards set in the Old Testament.

The independent theme of the second reading is a continuation of the Moral part of Rom. 1214. We are all one, living our divine life with the Lord Jesus Christ. By virtue of our baptism, we are called to live His life, the Paschal Mystery, His life, death, and resurrection. We profess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, and we live to serve the mission He entrusted to us.

The Gospel sums up the Sermon of the Church in Mt. 18:135, answering the question, who is the greatest in the Kingdom of God? Jesus says: the one who serves his brother, who makes selfsacrifice, who denies himself, and who does not scandalize the “little ones.” The same person is merciful to those who go astray. Even to those who are outside the Church, he will continue to extend the mercy of God. He forgives, his forgiveness is without measure, he forgives every time, seventyseven times. The greatest, is the one who always forgive and who forgives from his/her heart.

In the book of Genesis, the Yahwistic author tried to show us that sins do not come from God, but from man. God created everything good, in fact, very good. Because of the sins of man, man created the alienation of man from creation, and man from God. This alienation caused by human failure was healed through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. He paid the ultimate price, thus, sins against us should not be settled by revenge, but rather by forgiveness, not just once, or twice, but seventyseven times. A stark contrast to the teachings of the Rabbis, that one can forgive but not more than three times. Jesus wants us to forgive as often as there is a need.

Forgive, even if we are not asked of it.

The Parable of the Merciless Servant gives us a reason why we must forgive. Because we were forgiven first.

Before we ask an accounting of the sins that others committed against us, know that we have sinned against God more than anybody has ever sinned against us. That we are forgiven immensely more than we can ever forgive another person. But the most important lesson in the Parable is: If we do not forgive others of their offenses against us, then, we shall not be forgiven also. “The measure we give, is the same measure that we will receive.”

Brothers and sisters, we are the servant that was forgiven first by the master in the parable. We owe God a great deal, we have sinned against Him, big time. For this reason, we must forgive those who have sinned against us. Christ died for us, when we were yet sinners. God so love the world that He gave us His only Son. This Son died for us while we were still sinners and even made us His friends. (Rom. 5:68) He forgave us first, thus, we must forgive seventyseven times, and from our heart.

Our debts against God is so immense that we could never ever pay Him back, there is no way for us to ever fully pay Him. We owe God a huge amount, and yet he canceled our debts with one stroke of the pen, when Christ died for us. As the prayer “Our Father” constantly reminds us, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespassed against us.” For some, the opposite formulation resonates better: “Do not forgive us, if we do not forgive those who sin against us.”