September 17th, 2017 - 24th Sunday of OT - Forgiveness and Forgiving Others

Listen to the Homily: September 17th, 2017 - 24th Sunday of OT - Forgiveness and Forgiving Others

Gospel Reflection

Our passage for this weekend about forgiveness.  Peter asks how often he must forgive someone that sins against him.  Jesus’ reply of seventy-seven times, can also be translated as seventy times seven, which is understood to mean “always.”  To help illustrate His point, Jesus tells us a parable where a servant is forgiven an unpayable debt, a huge amount.  The same servant than refused to forgive a much smaller debt.

The servant represents us and our debt to God as a result of our sins.  We are not able to pay it off, but if we go to Confession and ask for His forgiveness we will be forgiven.  Such a great gift of forgiveness should inspire us to forgive others for their sins against us.  Yet for the servant in the parable and for many of us, forgiving those that are in debt to us or sinned against us is difficult.  We may be tempted to seek revenge and in some way seek repayment from our offenders.  But, should we take that same path of the unforgiving servant, then we ourselves will not be forgiven by our Heavenly Father.

Forgiveness is an act of the will rather than an emotion or a feeling.  To forgive is to remove the debt, to wipe the slate of offenses clean, to give up the right to hurt those who have hurt you.  We forgive someone not because they deserve it, but instead as an act of mercy and love.  When we forgive others, we free ourselves spiritually and emotionally from being bound to the offender in our own unforgiveness.  Forgiveness works best the more specific you are when you forgive.  It is also helpful to invoke the powerful name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  One possible way of forgiving is to say, “In the name of Jesus Christ, I forgive [name of offender] for [name the particular and specific offense].”  Being so specific often would require multiple acts of forgiveness, one for each offense.  Those who find it difficult to forgive others should pray to God for the grace to forgive.  Those who do not even desire to forgive, should pray for the desire to forgive and once the desire is there, pray for the grace to forgive.