{"id":2264,"date":"2017-09-17T12:28:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-17T16:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=2264"},"modified":"2017-09-17T12:28:00","modified_gmt":"2017-09-17T16:28:00","slug":"24th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/24th-sunday-in-ordinary-time-year-a-homily\/","title":{"rendered":"24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>24th<\/sup> Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A<\/a>
\nSirach 27:30-28:7
\nPsalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
\nRomans 14:7-9
\nMatthew 18:21-35<\/p>\n

Jesus came to offer us \u201cforgiveness\u201d but forgiveness wasn\u2019t \u201cnew\u201d with Jesus.<\/p>\n

We see it in what Sirach writes, \u201cForgive you neighbor\u2019s injustice<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 He speaks of \u201cwrath and anger<\/em>\u201d as \u201chateful things yet the sinner hugs them tight.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 We must not hold onto our anger or we deny ourselves \u201chealing from the LORD.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s psalm also puts together pardon and healing.\u00a0 If we refuse to forgive others, we deny the healing we need inside ourselves from the hurt.\u00a0 If we hold onto our anger, we lock out love and that means not being open to God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

Peter knows what the scriptures taught about forgiveness.\u00a0 Some read verses from the Old Testament as saying we must forgive three times.\u00a0 With this in mind, Peter probably felt pretty talking about forgiving seven times.\u00a0 Surely that was more than enough.\u00a0 Surely Jesus would praise him but Jesus doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Instead of praising Peter, Jesus tells him, \u201cnot seven times but seventy-seven times<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus is telling us that no matter how generous we have been with our forgiveness we need to continue to be generous in forgiving.<\/p>\n

Why must we forgive so many times?<\/p>\n

First, ask yourselves how many times you have needed to be forgiven by others in your lifetime.\u00a0 How many times have you needed to be forgiven by God?<\/p>\n

Secondly, we need to think about what it means to forgive.\u00a0 Sometimes we think forgiveness means forgetting and remaining best friends.<\/p>\n

I think with the little things forgiveness does include forgetting.\u00a0 It just isn\u2019t worth remember.\u00a0 But what about the big things?<\/p>\n

We hear about a lot of violence in the world in general, including in schools.\u00a0 I want to go back to an incident in 2006 when a man in Pennsylvania went into an Amish school and shot several students.\u00a0 A few were killed and others seriously wounded.\u00a0 I refer to this incident not for the details of the shooting itself but what followed, forgiveness.<\/em><\/p>\n

A few years ago I read the book, Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy.\u00a0 <\/em>You can read the book to find out more about the shooting but more important as a lesson in forgiveness.<\/p>\n

The preface states, \u201cWhereas in forgiveness the victim forgoes the right to vengeance, pardon<\/em> releases an offender from punishment altogether\u2026 Reconciliation is the restoration of a relationship.\u201d\u00a0 (xiv)<\/p>\n

I think when we think about God\u2019s forgiveness we put all three, forgiveness, pardon, and reconciliation, together because if we confess our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation that is what God does for us.\u00a0 He forgives, pardons, and reconciles.<\/p>\n

The Amish are very good at forgiven.\u00a0 They don\u2019t hold onto grudges but they do believe in consequences.\u00a0 While they believe in consequences, they do not let this lead them to seek revenge (77).<\/p>\n

The book provides the following quote from philosopher Joanna North, \u201cWhen unjustly hurt by another, we forgive when we overcome the resentment toward the offender, not by denying our right to the resentment, but instead by trying to offer the wrongdoer compassion, benevolence, and love\u201d (126).<\/p>\n

We can choose to hold onto our anger or we can choose to offer mercy.\u00a0 Holding onto the anger accomplishes nothing.\u00a0 Mercy is our Christian response.\u00a0 We might have good reason to be angry, just like God has good reason to be anger with us for our sins.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that time of year when our faith formation programs start up.\u00a0 Just this week our middle and high school youth groups had their first meetings.\u00a0 Today our K-5 students gather for the first time.\u00a0 At our 10:30 Mass we will offer a special blessing for our parishioners who volunteer as catechists.\u00a0 Today is called \u201cCatechetical Sunday\u201d by our conference of Bishops.\u00a0 Each year they pick a theme.\u00a0 This year\u2019s theme is \u201cLiving as Missionary Disciples.\u201d<\/p>\n

To live as missionary disciples includes showing mercy to the world.\u00a0 It means telling people about God\u2019s mercy but it also means that we need to show mercy ourselves to those who have wronged us.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t mean we forget the hurt but it does mean we don\u2019t let it control us.<\/p>\n

There is a key element in forgiveness.\u00a0 We cannot let the sinful act continue to control us.<\/p>\n

As we talk about God\u2019s forgiveness, we need to show our own need to his mercy.\u00a0 We need to show that we believe that God wants to forgive us.\u00a0 He does!\u00a0 Why else would Jesus have died on the Cross for us?<\/p>\n

If we want to admit our need for God\u2019s mercy, we do so by confessing our sins, seeking his forgiveness.\u00a0 I just went to confession myself a couple of days ago.\u00a0 Some of you are old enough to remember when people went to confession weekly.\u00a0 The pendulum has swung and I can get pretty lonely in the confessional sometimes.<\/p>\n

What changed?<\/p>\n

It started with a better understanding of sin and grace but the pendulum went from thinking we must have done something wrong to seeing little as sin.<\/p>\n

Others say that they confess directly to God.\u00a0 God does listen but there is something therapeutic about saying our sins out loud to the priest.\u00a0 There is grace that we receive when we admit our sins. \u00a0It can be anguishing for us to hide our sins inside.\u00a0 Offering them to God can be a great release with God\u2019s grace.\u00a0 We need to forgive others and we need to be forgiven.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A Sirach 27:30-28:7 Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12 Romans 14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35 Jesus came to offer us \u201cforgiveness\u201d but forgiveness wasn\u2019t \u201cnew\u201d with Jesus. We see it in what Sirach writes, \u201cForgive you neighbor\u2019s injustice.\u201d\u00a0 He speaks of \u201cwrath and anger\u201d as \u201chateful things yet the sinner hugs them …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A – Homily’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[82,11,302],"tags":[340,70],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-Aw","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2266,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264\/revisions\/2266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}