Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Texts:
Sir. 27:30-28:7
Rom. 14:7-9
Mt. 18:21-35

The Readings:

In the first reading, Sirach admonished the community to practice the value of forgiveness so that they might receive mercy from God. He pointed out that the people who are able to forgive will also be forgiven. The reading reminds us to release from deep within us the grace of forgiveness. We are challenged not to allow hatred and pride to influence our attitudes and relationships with others.

In the second reading, Paul admonished the believers to be kind and understanding to one another. For Paul, to die and to rise with Christ is to live for God and with one another in the community. The believers then must show the liberating power of Christ in their personal lives. The reading challenges us to live the mystery of the death and resurrection of Christ in our relationships and services in the community.

In the gospel, Matthew stressed the value of Christian forgiveness. Forgiveness is endless. It must be given freely to the people who asked for it. This is the message of Jesus to His disciples in the gospel. Peter tried to put a limit in the act of forgiveness. But Jesus made it limitless. Jesus inspired His disciples to experience the mercy of God in the way they forgive each other from the heart. Forgiveness must be the interior disposition of their hearts. For Matthew, to be forgiven is to forgive others, to live in grace is to live with others in the community, to deny forgiveness to others is to deny one’s forgiveness. He admonished the community to live a lifestyle of mercy and reconciliation in order become genuine children of God.

The Reflection:

We know that it is very difficult to forgive from the heart. It is not easy to forgive the people who were responsible for our personal failure, family disaster, social injustice, political corruption, ecological destruction and other forms of disorder in our community and society today. Jesus said that if we do not forgive, then, the Father in heaven might not forgive us. Today, we are challenged to evaluate our way of relating to others and our attitude with the sinners. The society has its own way of doing justice to the victims and to the perpetrators. But being Christians, we must do justice to others in the spirit of mercy. The love and compassion of God for us are boundless. Faith in divine mercy is the only grace that will empower us to forgive from the heart. This is a gracious act of every human being. We must live the Christian act of forgiveness today. How did your experience of being forgiven and being able to forgive change you? How do you manifest the values of mercy and justice in the community and the society today?

The Testimony:

When I was a little boy, I was always bullied by my peers. I was hurt physically and emotionally by other people. I observed that there were still people who found pleasure to put me down. I was even accused of inconsistencies in my attitude, in my relationship with others and in my pastoral ministry. I humbly say that there were also many times in my personal life that I had sinned against God and became an occasion of sin to other people. While growing up, I was also affected by the injustice in the community and the corruption in the society. As I reflected on these realities, I realized that it was really difficult to ask for forgiveness or to forgive when I focused only in the brokenness and the heartaches that were inflicted to me. But when I tried to go beyond from my inner world and to allow other people to become part of the circle of my personal liberation, my interior freedom and my authentic relationship with God, I discovered that forgiveness is really a grace of God. I believed on the saying, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” Since forgiveness is a divine act, I allowed myself to affect it in my personal life. With the help of divine grace, I was able to forgive the people who sinned against me. To have able to forgive from the heart was a divine power that liberated me from my inner demon. It released deep within me the grace of new life in truth and in freedom. I realized that the ability to forgive can also become a lifestyle of mercy that will deepen my personal relationship with God and will strengthen my relationship with others. Furthermore, I firmly believed that the grace to be able to forgive from the heart is the fruit of a genuine experience of the merciful love of God and His life-giving justice for all sinners. My personal experience of being forgiven and being able to forgive had built up my personal integrity. It made me more confident to become a minister of reconciliation in the church. And so, I am resolved to be possessed by the Word of God and by the Eucharist so that I may become a channel of divine mercy and compassion of God in the church.

The Eucharist:

The Eucharist is a celebration of the gratuitous love and boundless mercy of God for all sinners. Whenever we celebrate the Eucharist, God will help us to see the evil of sin and the grace of His love and compassion for us. Thus, to celebrate the Eucharist is to live radically the grace of love and mercy of God in our personal lives and in our relationships with others. To receive Jesus in the Eucharist is to become the gentle mercy and divine forgiveness of God for all sinners. To eat the body of Christ is to become instruments of reconciliation in the church and agents of unity in our society. Therefore, in this Eucharist, we pray that the Father in heaven may fill us with His life-giving mercy so that we may be able to forgive from the heart the people who sinned against us. Yes, we pray that our Eucharistic celebration may become a prophetic declaration of our Christian call to become ambassadors of reconciliation of God for all people.

May God bless us.