24th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Forgiven in order to Forgive
To be forgiven is one of the most liberating experiences of being human. When we are forgiven, we are so full of gratitude and joy that not just we were given pardon for our sins but also the opportunity to reform our lives and start all over again. Forgiveness, however, is a sort of “pay it forward” thing. We are forgiven in order that we can also forgive others. After all, we are all human and have done many bad things in our lives. All of us needs forgiveness so we can change and grow as a human being. Yet to forgive is one of the hardest thing any human being can do. Indeed, “To err is human, to forgive is divine.”
Our readings for today’s 24th Sunday in ordinary time portray this wide human-divine gap in the act of forgiveness and forgiving.
The first reading from the book of Sirach accurately captures the human dilemma. Sirach says,
“Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.”
The sinner hugs them tight! What a clever image to depict the human tendency to hold on to the hurts and negative experience which makes forgiving so hard to do. How many times in our lives have we nursed our hurts and nurtured vengeance on others?
The irony, however, is when we refuse to forgive someone, we’re choosing to hold on to all the anger and bitterness that their actions have created. When we choose to hold onto this anger, it eat us up, it make us irritable, impatient, distracted, and even physically ill.
On the other hand, the Psalm speaks beautifully about God’s merciful love and forgiveness:
“God is kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in compassion.”
In the Second Reading, St. Paul challenges us to a change of perspective. We ought to live not for ourselves but for others. We should imitate God, not one of us living for our own self, but living for the Lord. And if we die, we would die for the Lord.
In the gospel, by way of a parable, Jesus explains why we need to constantly forgive others. The reason: We are forgiven by God countless of times. Many people have also forgiven us, especially those who truly loved us. Imagine if we have not been forgiven? What would our life look now? Would we still be the person that we are today? Imagine if our parents have not forgiven all the countless, small and big, wrong things we have done. Imagine if our spouse, siblings and friends have not forgiven us. Should we not forgive our fellow men/woman, therefore, as God and others have forgave us?
But still, it is so hard to forgive. We all struggle to forgive especially if the hurt is so deep. Many of us can, if at all, forgive but not forget. Forgiveness does not mean tolerating the wrong doings that others did to us. Forgiveness is not allowing evil to thrive. Indeed, people need to redress the damage they have done. Mercy and justice goes hand in hand. As such, forgiveness can be seen as a two way process; on the one hand, it calls for the courage even if painful willingness to pardon and let go of all the pains and hurts, and on the other, the wholehearted acceptance/ownership of one’s own sin, the readiness to give reparation and demonstration of solid effort to change. In the end, forgiveness not only liberates the sinner but also the giver of forgiveness. Forgiveness can be mutually beneficial to both forgiver and forgiven. As one forgives, he/she is freed from the pain and hurts of the past.
God’s love showed us the perfect and complete example of forgiveness. That is why “to forgive is divine”. This implies that we cannot fully forgive without a profound faith and the experience of the merciful grace of God. Pope Francis beautifully captures this reality when he said,
Jesus asks us to believe that forgiveness is the door which leads to reconciliation. In telling us to forgive our brothers [and sisters] unreservedly, he is asking us to do something utterly radical, but he also gives us the grace to do it. What appears, from a human perspective, to be impossible, impractical and even at times repugnant, he makes possible and fruitful through the infinite power of his cross. The cross of Christ reveals the power of God to bridge every division, to heal every wound, and to reestablish the original bonds of brotherly love.[1]
Our world today stands in need of forgiveness. Our world today is in dire need of reconciliation. Some of the social ills that we struggle against result in part from the refusal of people to forgive. Wars are fought and innocent people are killed, maimed, or displaced because people cannot forgive their neighbors for their actions or those of their ancestors. Drug addicts and suspected drug pushers are killed without given the chance to reform. People are discriminated and ostracized because they have a different color, race, gender, culture and status . Our own society shows its own refusal to forgive in its obsessive clinging to the death penalty. Families, marriage and frindships are broken apart because of the hardness to forgive each other.
I end with a prayer from Anne Osdieck,
Jesus, please break the bonds that hold our refusal to forgive. Give us your strength to take off our shackles. Teach us to forgive in the way that you forgive us: take our sins and consequences, forgive and then forget. No strings attached. Just love.[2]
[1] Pope Francis, Homily for “Holy Mass for Peace and Reconciliation,” August 18, 2014.
[2] Anne Osdieck, “Praying towards Sunday.” Accessed at http://liturgy.slu.edu/24OrdA091717/prayerpathmain.html
I am passionate about the intersection between new media and technology. I continue to research and apply new media in theology and vice-versa. I am also a fan of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and her continuing relevance in today's digital world.
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