In 1970 the big movie of the year was Love Story and in that movie we all learned this famous line: "love means never having to say I'm sorry." Well, I'm here to tell you that is just bunk; not true, love, often requires the words "I'm sorry" Actually, to hear words like I forgive you, I'm sorry, please forgive me and you are forgiven are words of love; it's part of the language of love.
As people of faith we are called to love, and we are called to forgive.
Today's Gospel is from the 18th chapter of Matthew and continues the teachings of Jesus relative to how the members of His Church must live. Last week we got a lesson on fraternal correction, this week we have a lesson on compassion, forgiveness and mercy. And it begins with Saint Peter, our very 1st Pope. Saint Peter, who often leads with his mouth is prepared today when he brings his question to Jesus. Wanting to know how often he must forgive a brother who has hurt him, he offer the number 7 to Jesus; I think we should forgive 7 times he tells Jesus. Now Peter would know that the Jewish teaching of that day was 3 times we must forgive; so he was actually being very generous with the suggestion of 7 times. Then Jesus corrects him and says how about 77 times, or in other translations of this same Gospel it says 7 X 70 times. So Jesus greatly increases Peter's offer of 7 times. Whether Jesus meant 77 or 490 is not the point, both answers imply all the time.
To drive home His point, Jesus goes on to tell the story of these two servants; one who owes a great debt, the other a small debt. The servant who owed the great debt begs for mercy and is met with compassion. His debt is forgiven. He is free! And how much was his debt? We are told 10,000 talents; in today's world that would translate to a sum of about $ 3.2 million. Yet his first encounter after having his debt cleared is to confront a fellow servant who owed him a debt of just about $ 10. To him, he showed no mercy, no compassion. He mistreated him and had him put away. But the master heard of his lack of compassion and summoned him back. I forgave you a great debt and you could not do the same for your fellow servant. In a moment of righteous anger, he had him put away too. Then Jesus delivered the message we all must hear and hear clearly, unless we forgive our brothers and sisters, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us. Who here does not want the promise of God's forgiveness and mercy? After all we just heard proclaimed that the Lord is kind and merciful. Yet Jesus makes it clear; mercy is for those who give mercy.
On our own this might be darn near impossible. Some of us here may have hurts and wounds that are deep and raw and seemingly impossible to forget. Yet St. Paul gives us a way. We hear today, if we live, we live for Christ; if we die, we die for Christ. In all things, we are for Christ. Brothers and sisters, if we live for Christ, if we are prepared to die for Christ, we can ask and receive the graces from God to be a person of compassion, a person of forgiveness.
All throughout every Mass, we are reminded about forgiveness. In the penitential rite, we confess our sinfulness to God and "to you my brothers and sisters". When we pray this, do we ever think about that; right there at the very beginning of Mass, we include our brothers and sisters in our prayer of sorrow for sin. Then we pray the Our Father in every Mass, and hopefully in our daily prayer life too. Forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us. Dare I say, if we are not about forgiveness, if we still harbor a grudge, we are not sincerely praying the Lord's Prayer. This prayer totally mirrors this Gospel message and many others, we beg God for mercy and we offer mercy, to one another. Finally we offer the sign of peace at every Mass right before we approach the altar to receive the precious Body of Jesus in Holy Communion. This was placed in the Mass to remind us that Scripture calls us to be reconciled to one another before presenting ourselves at the altar of the Lord. Even something as important as receiving Jesus in Holy Communion compels us to forgive one another.
Several weeks ago I had an opportunity in a homily to suggest we all pray for someone that week we were not fully reconciled with. Whoever that person may be, and for whatever reason we feel hurt, take that person to prayer and seek God's grace to be able to forgive. May this Gospel today encourage each of us to revisit those efforts. Again, Jesus is not offering a personal opinion or a holy suggestion, He is commanding us to forgive one another if we desire forgiveness from our Heavenly Father.
The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in compassion.
And Love does mean saying I'm sorry and I forgive you!
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