24th Sunday In Ordinary Time

Ecclesiasticus 27:33-28:9
Romans 14:7-9
Matthew 18:21-35

FOR YOU TO GAIN ETERNAL LIFE, YOU MUST FORGIVE THOSE WHO OFFEND YOU

None of us finds it easy to forgive. Forgiveness is challenging because in order to forgive we must be willing to move beyond the justifiable anger, hurt, and resentment we feel when we are unfairly treated by another. Worst still is the dact it could be notoriously risky when the people we forgive show little remorse, accept no responsibility, and do nothing to amend their behavior? No wonder it is sometimes easier to remain estranged than to be reconciled; easier to nurture anger and bitterness over love and forgiveness.

In today’s first reading from the book of Sirach, we are given the scandalous contradiction, “Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD?” In today’s second reading, Paul succinctly reminds us that we live only because of the freely given mercy of God that is ours through the death and resurrection of Jesus: “In the gospel, the answer to the question of Peter on forgiveness was being unfolded in a parable that emphasizes the disturbing fate of the one who does not offer forgiveness they have received to others. When we come to Mass, we start by saying, “I confess to almighty God…that I have sinned.”  And yet, how deeply do we mean it, and intend to do something about it?  How often do most of us go to the sacrament of confession?  As often as our consciences tell us we ought to?  Almost certainly, the answer to that question is ‘no’.

Perhaps we simply fail to recognise the extent of our failings; but all too often we shy away from the sacrament Perhaps we feel guilty and ashamed of what we have done, and we do not want to think about our sins. They make us realise how feeble we are, and we prefer to think of ourselves as being able to cope with our weaknesses, as strong, that our minds and our wills are not governed by our desires. Or perhaps we know in our minds that, when we go to confession, we are addressing God, but we feel that we do not want to speak our sins out loud, to a priest – we may be embarrassed.  Or perhaps we have drifted towards a false, very Protestant view of our relationship with God: that it is quite sufficient for us to pray, and tell God that we are sorry for what we have done. Perhaps we think that type of prayer is just as good as going to confession.
 
While our prayers of contrition are very worthwhile, they are not at all the same as going to confession.  We read at Mass last Sunday the words of our Lord to His disciples, “I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.”  Why did our Lord bother to give to His disciples, and through them to the bishops and priests of His Church, this power to judge, to bind and to release? Why did He institute this sacrament, if a simple prayer would be just as effective?
 
What is the sacrament of confession?  It is, above all, a sign of God’s mercy and love.  We can come to him in the sacrament with absolute certainty, secure in his promises.  If we simply pray on our own, can we really be certain that God has heard and answered our prayer, that we have been forgiven for our sins?  Are we not left with even a small degree of doubt and uncertainty?  After all, it is we who are making the prayer, and we who are trying to discern God’s answer.  

In the sacrament of reconciliation , God promises to be present; he promises the power of his Holy Spirit. We can be absolutely certain that he has forgiven all the sins that we have confessed. We know that we will also have committed minor sins that we did not realise, or that we have forgotten in the meantime; but, as long as we are sorry for them too, they are also forgiven. It is only if we have committed a serious sin and deliberately keep quiet about it that it remains unforgiven: indeed in these circumstances, we commit a further sin by making a deliberately bad confession. But if we make a good confession, with genuine contrition for all our sinfulness, we can be confident that when the priest says, the words of absolution, we are completely absolved; for Jesus has said to His Church, “Whatever you loose on earth will be considered loosed in heaven.”

God knows all our sins, but he also knows our desire to follow him, to improve with his help.  He is a God of justice, but he is also a God of mercy and life.  Christ died out of love for us, to free us from sin and eternal death. Without His grace, we will fail and fail again; but with His grace, which we can experience so often and so deeply in the sacrament of penance, we can and will become more and more like Him and above all enter into the eternal banquet of heaven.

Fr Joseph Osho