[Salvation]

Catholic Culture

Daily Readings for: September 11, 2011
(Readings on USCCB website)

Collect: Almighty God, our creator and guide, may we serve you with all our heart and know your forgiveness in our lives. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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PRAYERS

• Blessing of Students and Teachers 

  11th

  Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time Old Calendar: Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

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 your brother from your heart (Mt 18:32-35).”

Click here for commentary on the readings in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.

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Sunday Readings
The first reading is taken from the Book of Sirach 27:30, 28:7. In the verses read today, Sirach tells us that we must forgive our neighbor if we want God to forgive us our own sins. We must be merciful if we hope to obtain mercy from God. We must not seek revenge on a neighbor lest God should take vengeance on us. If we remember our end in life we will keep God's commandments and we will not be angry with a neighbor who offends us.

The second reading is from the St. Paul to the Romans 14:7-9. In these three verses St. Paul emphasizes the fact that through our baptism we have been made members of Christ's mystical body, we have become brothers of Christ, intimately united with him in his death and resurrection. Whether living or dead we belong to Christ. It was for this purpose, to unite all men closely to himself not only in this life but especially in the next, that Christ became man and "dwelt among us."

The Gospel is from St. Matthew 18:21-35. On reading or hearing this story of the merciless servant, each one of us would rightly judge him a mean, low type of man, a heartless man, who puts himself outside the pale of mercy. He throttled his fellow-servant for a paltry debt of ten dollars, and would not listen to the poor man's plea for mercy. When we hear what the king did to this heartless servant we heartily approve and say: "It served him right, he got what he richly deserved."

We had better stop and think for a moment today and reflect that we ourselves may be that merciless servant described in the parable. Every time we have sinned mortally we have incurred an unpayable debt to God. Each time we have received absolution we have come out of God's courtroom as free men. A weight greater than a million dollar debt has been lifted from our shoulders. A fate worse than generations of earthly imprisonment — that is, eternal slavery — has been spared us because of God's loving, infinite mercy. How then can it happen that we could be so heartless, mean, and foolish as to refuse to forgive a neighbor for some offense he has committed against us?

Yet it happens, and it may be that there are some among us here today who continue to have enmity in their hearts against neighbors who offended them. In their hard-heartedness they cannot get themselves to forgive and forget. Are these not following in the footsteps of the merciless servant? Will they not receive the punishment of the merciless servant — a punishment richly deserved? This will be the fate of all unforgiving Christians; they will meet an unforgiving God when they are called to settle their accounts.

That day has not yet come for us. We still have time to put our affairs in order. We still can forgive all our enemies from our heart. If we do not, we are cutting ourselves off from the possibility of having our own sins and offenses forgiven by God. We have the solemn word of our divine Lord for this in the lesson he draws from the parable "So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you (that is, deliver us up to eternal slavery) if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M.

[Salvation]

The Word Among Us

Meditation: Matthew 18:21-35

“Not seven times but seventy-seven times.” (Matthew 18:22)

It’s been ten years since two jetliners crashed into the Twin Towers in Manhattan, but Paul Fox can still see the flames and, in them, the faces of deceased friends and colleagues. At work on the fiftieth floor of the South Tower when the World Trade Center was hit, Fox emerged unharmed, yet hardly untouched. Seeing so many people killed and knowing he was Osama bin Laden’s target, too, changes you, he said in a recent interview with a Seattle, Washington, television station.

Even so, Fox recoiled at news videos of people wildly celebrating bin Laden’s death in May. “As a Christian, that kind of rejoicing at any person’s death doesn’t feel right.” Still, he struggles with forgiveness. “I’m having to search my soul about that. I’m not there yet,” he admits. (For a link to the interview, click here.)

Even when the offense is infinitely tiny compared to a terrorist attack, how hard it is to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Considering how the world has grown more divided and less forgiving over the past ten years, this call has become especially challenging.

Is it really possible to forgive one another “from the heart,” as Jesus urges us to do (Matthew 18:35)? Not on our own strength alone! But we know Christ, and through his Holy Spirit, we have all we need to become ambassadors for forgiveness and unity. Though we may not consider ourselves very important or influential, our witness counts! Just think: If everyone reading this meditation today chose to become an agent of mercy, we just might change the world.

“ ‘It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession’ (Catechism, 2843). Holy Spirit, give me such a heart!”

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Questions for Reflection or Group Discussion

(Sirach 27:30–28:7; Psalm 103:1-4,9-12; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35)

1. The theme of the Scripture readings could not be clearer: mercy and forgiveness. In the first reading we are warned against nourishing anger against others. How much of your day would you estimate is spent remembering and reliving conversations and/or circumstances when you were hurt or angered by another person? What steps can you take to let go of them?

2. In the same vein, why do you believe the first reading encourages us to remember our “last days” when it comes to holding on to unforgiveness, anger, and vengeance? How can you use this injunction during the day to check the amount of unforgiveness in your life?

3. The responsorial psalm speaks of the Lord’s healing and pardoning. Since the Lord has so generously pardoned you, who are the people in your life to whom you can provide healing and pardoning?

4. The second reading reminds us that we do not live or die for ourselves, but for the Lord. How can you make this a greater reality in your life? How do you think this Scripture relates to the need to change our behavior with regard to unforgiveness, anger?

5. Jesus’ parable of the king and wicked servant in the Gospel reading could not be more obvious: we will be forgiven to the same extent we forgive others. We cannot demand justice for everyone else and mercy for ourselves. (“Justice for them Lord, but mercy for me.”) How can knowing this reality impact the way you relate to others?

6. In light of the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the meditation challenges us with these words: “Even when the offense is infinitely tiny compared to a terrorist attack, how hard it is to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us.” The meditation also challenges us with the following question: “Is it really possible to forgive one another ‘from the heart,’ as Jesus urges us to do (Matthew 18:35)?” How would you answer this question?”

7. The meditation answers the above question this way. “Not on our own strength alone! But we know Christ, and through his Holy Spirit, we have all we need to become ambassadors for forgiveness and unity.” Are you willing to give up the obstacles in your life (e.g., unforgiveness, bitterness, resentment) that keep you from being “an ambassadors for forgiveness and unity”? If so, what do you think are your first steps to doing this?

8. Take some time now to pray that the Lord would give you the grace to forgive “from the heart” those who have hurt you or offended you. As the prayer at the end of the meditation suggests, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to give you such a heart.