Homily OT (A) 24th Sunday - How Often Must I Forgive

Core Message:

FOR THE MIND: What do I want them to KNOW?

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FOR THE HEART: What do I want them to FEEL?

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I. Introduction

Subtitle

My intro goes here

II. Body

Subtitle

Point 1 goes here

III. Conclusion

Subtitle

My conclusion goes here

Readings

Sunday, September 17, 2017 | Ordinary Time

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year A | Roman Missal | Lectionary

First Reading Sirach 27:30–28:7

Response Psalm 103:8a

Psalm Psalm 103:1–4, 9–12

Second Reading Romans 14:7–9

Gospel Acclamation John 13:34

Gospel Matthew 18:21–35

Index of Readings

First Reading

Sirach 27:30–28:7

30 Wrath and anger, these also are abominations,

yet a sinner holds on to them.

CHAPTER 28

1 The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance;

indeed he remembers their sins in detail.

2 Forgive your neighbor the wrong done to you;

then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

3 Does anyone nourish anger against another

and expect healing from the Lord?

4 Can one refuse mercy to a sinner like oneself,

yet seek pardon for one’s own sins?

5 If a mere mortal cherishes wrath,

who will forgive his sins?

6 Remember your last days and set enmity aside;

remember death and decay, and cease from sin!

7 Remember the commandments and do not be angry with your neighbor;

remember the covenant of the Most High, and overlook faults.

Response

Psalm 103:8a

8 Merciful and gracious is the Lord,

slow to anger, abounding in mercy.

Psalm

Psalm 103:1–4, 9–12

1 Of David.

Bless the Lord, my soul;

all my being, bless his holy name!

2 Bless the Lord, my soul;

and do not forget all his gifts,

3 Who pardons all your sins,

and heals all your ills,

4 Who redeems your life from the pit,

and crowns you with mercy and compassion,

9 He will not always accuse,

and nurses no lasting anger;

10 He has not dealt with us as our sins merit,

nor requited us as our wrongs deserve.

11 For as the heavens tower over the earth,

so his mercy towers over those who fear him.

12 As far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our sins from us.

Second Reading

Romans 14:7–9

7 None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. 8 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. 9 For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Gospel Acclamation

John 13:34

34 I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.

Gospel

Matthew 18:21–35

21 Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. 23 That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. 25 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. 26 At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ 27 Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. 28 When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. 31 Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. 32 His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 33 Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ 34 Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. 35 So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

Missal

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

Entrance Antiphon [Cf. Sir 36:18]

Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you,

that your prophets be found true.

Hear the prayers of your servant,

and of your people Israel.

Collect

Look upon us, O God,

Creator and ruler of all things,

and, that we may feel the working of your mercy,

grant that we may serve you with all our heart.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Prayer over the Offerings

Look with favor on our supplications, O Lord,

and in your kindness accept these, your servants’ offerings,

that what each has offered to the honor of your name

may serve the salvation of all.

Through Christ our Lord.

Communion Antiphon [Cf. Ps 36 (35):8]

How precious is your mercy, O God!

The children of men seek shelter in the shadow of your wings.

Or: [Cf. 1 Cor 10:16]

The chalice of blessing that we bless

is a communion in the Blood of Christ;

and the bread that we break

is a sharing in the Body of the Lord.

Prayer after Communion

May the working of this heavenly gift, O Lord, we pray,

take possession of our minds and bodies,

so that its effects, and not our own desires,

may always prevail in us.

Through Christ our Lord.

CCC

V. “And Forgive Us Our Trespasses, as We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us”

2838 This petition is astonishing. If it consisted only of the first phrase, “And forgive us our trespasses,” it might have been included, implicitly, in the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, since Christ’s sacrifice is “that sins may be forgiven.” But, according to the second phrase, our petition will not be heard unless we have first met a strict requirement. Our petition looks to the future, but our response must come first, for the two parts are joined by the single word “as.” (1425; 1933; 2631)

p 682 And forgive us our trespasses …

2839 With bold confidence, we began praying to our Father. In begging him that his name be hallowed, we were in fact asking him that we ourselves might be always made more holy. But though we are clothed with the baptismal garment, we do not cease to sin, to turn away from God. Now, in this new petition, we return to him like the prodigal son and, like the tax collector, recognize that we are sinners before him. Our petition begins with a “confession” of our wretchedness and his mercy. Our hope is firm because, in his Son, “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”134 We find the efficacious and undoubted sign of his forgiveness in the sacraments of his Church. (1425; 1439; 1422)

2840 Now—and this is daunting—this outpouring of mercy cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us. Love, like the Body of Christ, is indivisible; we cannot love the God we cannot see if we do not love the brother or sister we do see. In refusing to forgive our brothers and sisters, our hearts are closed and their hardness makes them impervious to the Father’s merciful love; but in confessing our sins, our hearts are opened to his grace. (1864)

2841 This petition is so important that it is the only one to which the Lord returns and which he develops explicitly in the Sermon on the Mount. This crucial requirement of the covenant mystery is impossible for man. But “with God all things are possible.”138

… as we forgive those who trespass against us

2842 This “as” is not unique in Jesus’ teaching: “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect”; “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful”; “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” It is impossible to keep the Lord’s commandment by imitating the divine model from outside; there has to be a vital participation, coming from the depths of the heart, in the holiness and the mercy and the love of our God. Only the p 683 Spirit by whom we live can make “ours” the same mind that was in Christ Jesus. Then the unity of forgiveness becomes possible and we find ourselves “forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave” us. (521)

2843 Thus the Lord’s words on forgiveness, the love that loves to the end, become a living reality. The parable of the merciless servant, which crowns the Lord’s teaching on ecclesial communion, ends with these words: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”143 It is there, in fact, “in the depths of the heart,” that everything is bound and loosed. It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession. (368)

2844 Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies, transfiguring the disciple by configuring him to his Master. Forgiveness is a high-point of Christian prayer; only hearts attuned to God’s compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is stronger than sin. The martyrs of yesterday and today bear this witness to Jesus. Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the reconciliation of the children of God with their Father and of men with one another. (2262)

2845 There is no limit or measure to this essentially divine forgiveness, whether one speaks of “sins” as in Luke (11:4), or “debts” as in Matthew (6:12). We are always debtors: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” The communion of the Holy Trinity is the source and criterion of truth in every relationship. It is lived out in prayer, above all in the Eucharist.148 (1441)

God does not accept the sacrifice of a sower of disunion, but commands that he depart from the altar so that he may first be reconciled with his brother. For God can be appeased only by prayers that make peace. To God, the better offering is peace, brotherly concord, and a people made one in the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.[1]

Notes

Hahn

Mercy and forgiveness should be at the heart of the Christian life.

Yet, as today’s First Reading wisely reminds us, often we cherish our wrath, nourish our anger, refuse mercy to those who have done us wrong. Jesus, too, strikes close to home in today’s Gospel, with His realistic portrayal of the wicked servant – who won’t forgive a fellow servant’s debt, even though his own slate has just been wiped clean by their Master.

It can’t be this way in the kingdom, the Church. In the Old Testament, “seven” is frequently a number associated with mercy and the forgiveness of sins. The just man sins seven times daily; there is a seven-fold sprinking of blood for atonement of sins (see Proverbs 24:6; Leviticus 16). But Jesus tells Peter today that we must forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven times. That means: every time.

We are to be merciful as our Father in heaven is merciful (see Luke 6:36; Matthew 5:48). But why? Why does Jesus repeatedly warn that we can’t expect forgiveness for our trespasses unless we’re willing to forgive others their trespasses against us?

Because, as Paul reminds us in today’s Epistle, we are the Lord’s. Each of us has been purchased by the blood of Christ shed for us on the cross (see Revelation 5:9). As we sing in today’s Psalm, though we deserved to die for our sins, He doesn’t deal with us according to our crimes. The mercy and forgiveness we show to others should be the heartfelt expression of our gratitude for the mercy and forgiveness shown to us.

This is why we should remember our last days, set our enmities aside, and stop judging others. We know that one day we will stand before the judgment seat and give account for what we’ve done with the new life given to us by Christ (see Romans 14:10,12).

So we forgive each other from the heart, overlook each other’s faults, and await the crown of His kindness and compassion.

[1] Catholic Church. (2000). Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd Ed., pp. 681–683). Washington, DC: United States Catholic Conference.