24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A
First Reading: Sir 27:30 - 28:7
Second Reading: Rom 14:7-9
Gospel Reading: Mt 18:21-35
“Forgive your neighbour the wrong that is done” – no matter how often it is repeated – “and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray,” we hear in this Sunday’s Readings.
“If one has no mercy toward another like oneself, can one then seek pardon for one’s own sins?” No; if we do not forgive our brothers and sisters from our hearts, our heavenly Father will not forgive us.
Jesus himself taught us to say, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Then he added, “If you forgive the faults of others, your heavenly Father will forgive you yours. If you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive you.”
In 1995, 50 years after World War II, a priest in Britain asked his congregation to pray for Hitler.
“I appreciate that we are all God’s children,” a former serviceman said, “but to pray for this evil man is going too far.” A Jew said, “I feel there can be no forgiveness for Hitler.”
Hitler’s crimes seem inexcusable, impossible to “overlook.” (Of course, only God knows the excuses; only he can judge the heart.)
However, it is precisely what cannot be excused or overlooked that must be forgiven. Forgiveness means recognizing the sin – as God does – in all its horror, dirt, meanness, and malice, and nevertheless being wholly reconciled to the person who has sinned.
Hard as it is to forgive Hitler, it can be even harder to forgive a bossy mother-in-law, a bullying husband, a nagging wife, a lazy colleague, a selfish or deceitful child, or an unfair boss or teacher, because it has to be done “seventy-seven” times. However, it becomes easier if we realize that we, too, need forgiveness.
You have probably heard that the faults we see in others are often reflections of our own. That makes sense, for their vanity, pride, or bossiness will be most irritating precisely when it conflicts with our own.
Perhaps my husband is irritable because I am irritating, my children rebellious because I am unfair, my employer bossy because I am incompetent, my wife unsympathetic because I am inconsistent or uncommunicative.
“They are overreacting!” we exclaim. “I never mean to offend!” However, there are three kinds of offences, which all need forgiveness.
First, there is deliberate, malicious injustice. (This is how we regard other people’s offences, never our own.) Second, there is inadvertent injustice because we do not recognize other people’s rights. Third, there is supposed injustice, which has the same effect on others. Those in authority, especially, have to be careful not to make people think they are being treated unfairly or unjustly.
You may remember the story of Kim Phuc, a nine-year-old South Vietnamese girl who in 1972 was splashed with napalm when the Americans bombed the village of Trang Bang. The jellified gasoline ignited on impact and peeled not only her clothes from her body but also the skin from her back and left arm. A horrified photographer snapped her photo as she ran naked down the road that led out of her village.
For decades, John Plummer, the pilot who had dropped the bombs, could not forget that picture. Believing that Kim had died in agony, he suffered recurrent nightmares and started drinking, but never talked to anyone.
In 1996, he discovered that Kim had survived and was living in Toronto. Learning that she had been invited to speak at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 11, he resolved to ask her forgiveness.
As the two war victims looked at each other, he stammered out, “I’m sorry. I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.” Immediately Kim, who had become a Christian, held out her arms and said, “It’s okay. It’s okay. I forgive. I forgive.”
Surely, “I’m sorry” and “I forgive” contain the essence of this Sunday’s Readings.
Father Hawkswell is again teaching “The Catholic Faith in Plain English" free of charge. All the materials (video and print) are available online at www.beholdvancouver.org/catholic-faith-course. Session 2, “Creation and the Fall,” will be available Sept. 13.