First
Reading – Ecclesiasticus 27:33-28:9 ©
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 102(103):1-4, 9-12 ©
Second
Reading – Romans 14:7-9 ©
Gospel Acclamation – 1 Samuel 3:9,
John 6:68
Alternative Acclamation – John 13:34
The Gospel According to Matthew 18:21
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(NJB)
Listen!
Love your neighbor, including the
stranger among you.
Pray for those who persecute you.
Forgive and seek forgiveness, accept
it when it is offered.
Walk with humility, be merciful and
love justice all the days of your life, this is the way.
Be mindful.
The author of Ecclesiasticus errs when
suggesting that God keeps account of our sins; the creator of the universe is
not a bookkeeper or a banker, and our lives are not summarized in a double
entry ledger, tracking our merits and demerits.
The economy of salvation is not a
marketplace where we exchange mercy for mercy, or retribution for our faults.
Divine grace is a gift that we all
receive freely, and no-one is left out.
Consider the words of the psalmist:
Give thanks to God; be thankful for the
peace you experience, receive it as a blessing, like the blessings of life, freedom,
self-determination and all the other elements of our personhood.
Give thanks to those who are loving,
to the peacemakers; bless them as you are able.
Bless all of God’s children, as God
does, love them all, both the good and the bad, the helpful and the harmful,
the just and the unjust…no-one is unworthy of love.
Remember this:
God is not a king or a Lord. God does
not favor one group over another. God does not intervene in the affairs of
human beings.
God, the creator
of the universe, God is the God of everything, of everyone, in all places and
all times.
God desires
what is good for us and works in subtle ways to bring us toward that end. God
is confident of God’s plan and the fulfillment of God’s will, even if we are
not.
Listen!
When a leader
rises among us we must acknowledge them; when that leadership is pure and we
see that their work is holy we must acknowledge that. Though in acknowledging these
things it is important that we do not embellish as the apostles so often did.
Know this:
God speaks
to all people.
God speaks
in the heart of every human being.
God is
present to any who will listen, but God does not favor some over others, and
God does not appear in visions.
Listen!
This is the
good news:
God loves
you and you are saved.
You are not
saved for anything that you have done, you did not earn your salvation…you are
saved because God loves you.
The good
news regarding the promise of salvation,
is not that you will be spared from suffering and torment in hell, or that when
you are judged God will forgive you.
The good
news is that God has forgiven you and you are already saved. God has prepared
you as God has prepared everyone; God has prepared us all for eternal life.
Believe it!
Let the promise
and its goodness flow through you, start living your life as if it were true.
We are not
called to believe in the idea that Jesus is this or that…the so-called Holy One
of God, we are called to act on the principles of his faith, to live lives of
charity and service to one another; this is the essence of the Chistian mission:
Love one another.
To follow Jesus is to lead with love.
Love as Jesus loved.
Be humble, be merciful, be just.
Be prepared to risk everything for the sake of love,
even your life.
To the extent that you are able to live up to the
proscriptions you will be true to the teaching of Jesus…there is no other way.
Faith (which is the trust we place in God); faith is
not about words and formulas, it is about action. Faith is not confined by ideology,
it is not partisan, it is not dogmatic, it is not doctrinaire. A commitment of
faith is not a legally binding agreement or contract. Faith is not concerned
with creeds and decretals, secrets or magic words.
Faith is trust and it is expressed as hope, in love,
through service.
Consider
the gospel reading for today:
Forgive
and be merciful.
Forget
every word in this passage except these:
Do
not settle on merely forgiving someone seven times, but forgive them
seventy-seven times.
Do
not place limits on your mercy.
If
it is in your power to forgive someone, forgive them and forgive them fully.
Forgive
your sister and brother, your father and mother, your neighbor, the stranger,
even the those who have persecuted you. Forgive them from your heart and
forgive yourself.
Do
not be like the servant who receives mercy, and then refuses to be merciful.
Do
not be like Peter who time and time again failed to understand the teaching of
Jesus.
The
authors of Matthew’s Gospel articulated the superabundance of Jesus’
compassion. They remembered this, and by placing this sequence at the beginning
of the passage they are asking us to remember it as well.
Jesus
said:
Forgive
the wrongdoer…not once, not twice, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
Matthew’s
community remembered this and then betrayed their memory by circumscribing divine
compassion, drafting a parable in which the principle actor fails to follow Jesus
in the way, forgiving his servant once, but not a second time.
Set
the example that Jesus set, be a blessing to your sisters and brothers,
especially those in need of compassion; do this and correct the Church.
First
Reading – Ecclesiasticus 27:33-28:9 ©
Forgive
Your Neighbour the Hurt He Does You; and When You Pray, Your Sins Will Be Forgiven
Resentment
and anger, these are foul things, and both are found with the sinner.
He
who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the Lord, who keeps
strict account of sin.
Forgive
your neighbour the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be
forgiven.
If
a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the
Lord?
Showing
no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins?
Mere
creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins?
Remember
the last things, and stop hating, remember dissolution and death, and live by
the commandments.
Remember
the commandments, and do not bear your neighbour ill-will; remember the
covenant of the Most High, and overlook the offence.
Responsorial
Psalm – Psalm 102(103):1-4, 9-12 ©
The
Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
My
soul, give thanks to the Lord
all my being, bless his holy name.
My
soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.
The
Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
It
is he who forgives all your guilt,
who heals every one of your ills,
who
redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion.
The
Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
His
wrath will come to an end;
he will not be angry for ever.
He
does not treat us according to our sins
nor repay us according to our faults.
The
Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
For
as the heavens are high above the earth
so strong is his love for those who fear him.
As
far as the east is from the west
so far does he remove our sins.
The
Lord is compassion and love, slow to anger and rich in mercy.
Second
Reading – Romans 14:7-9 ©
Alive
or Dead, We Belong to the Lord
The
life and death of each of us has its influence on others; if we live, we live
for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we
belong to the Lord. This explains why Christ both died and came to life: it was
so that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Gospel
Acclamation – 1 Samuel 3:9, John 6:68
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Speak,
Lord, your servant is listening: you have the message of eternal life.
Alleluia!
Alternative
Acclamation – John 13:34
Alleluia,
alleluia!
I
give you a new commandment: love one another just as I have loved you, says the
Lord.
Alleluia!
The Gospel According to Matthew 18:21
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To Be forgiven, You Must forgive
Peter
went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he
wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you,
but seventy-seven times.
‘And
so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his
accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man
who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master
gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all
his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at
his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And
the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the
debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who
owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to
throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his
feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other
would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should
pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had
happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him.
Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all
that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have
pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the
master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And
that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your
brother from your heart.’
The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary
Time (Year A)
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