"...we owe God and others. And we can't pay it back, we can only pay it forward."
As We Forgive Others
August 13th, 2020
It hardly seems possible that we are already preparing for school again. The pandemic has definitely distorted the experience of time for most of us. Days blend together and we start to realize that as we wait with hope for a vaccine, we can do this “temporary normal.” We also keep in mind those who are struggling more than we are.
Today’s readings speak, although tangentially, about this dynamic of keeping one another’s journeys in mind. We don’t know what others are enduring or how what particular struggles they encounter.
We are asked today, not only to forgive, but to look out for others, not just because we hope to be “better people” but because we are more aware of our own failings in life. Jesus reminds us that we have each received more than we can ever give back to God. We are called to recognize how well we’ve done in the “unequal distribution” of our world, and reach out accordingly with greater compassion to others.
I’ve begun to wonder if our view is skewed by those who control our stories. We watch television and see celebrities and power brokers and think, “I wish I were doing that well.”
We don’t really hear the stories and are never connected in the same way to those without even a home. We may feel connected to the characters from a show like “This is Us” but we are not being connected to those who are forced to work as children in diamond mines across the world.
The characters we are given intimate portraits of are those of relatively comfortable life styles, and we begin to think that that is the world and in that world we are doing moderately. But if we saw and connected to the average level of poverty around the world, we would quickly (and perhaps uncomfortably) see how well we are doing.
Today’s gospel calls forth our forgiveness and compassion from the space of deep recognition that the world is not fair, and more often than not, this has worked to our benefit. From this realization we can begin to hope for and work toward a more universal justice in our world. We not only wish others well, but commit effort to the cause.
For a piece of music today, I went back into my library to find “A Simple Blessing.” This piece is exactly what its title states. It is a short wish for peace and joy. It was written with a friend in mind, but should perhaps be a deeper call to wish and work for the same for all of the people of this world that God has created.
God Bless,
Fr. Pat
Tuesday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel | Matthew 18:21 - 19:1
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed,
and went to their master and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed,
and went to their master and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”
When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee
and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
"A Simple Blessing" - Fr. Patrick Dolan
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