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September 10, 2023: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Cycle A
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Can life be any better than having Jesus in the midst of us? Especially where there’s more than 2 or 3? In the Body of the People; in the Word proclaimed; in the priest; in the Eucharistic species. Jesus has found a number of ways to be in the midst of us in our Catholic faith. Let me count the ways.
One of the more difficult, if not the most difficult way our Lord is in our midst is when the virtue of forgiveness is at the heart of the matter. We can presume from the words of the Lord in this Gospel that when someone sins against us, in this case someone familiar – a brother or sister – and I would add even someone we do not know well, when the possibility arises, to go tell them their fault between the two of us, the presumption here is that forgiveness is being sought.
The presumption in our Lord’s teaching is not to simply accuse someone of offending us. The presumption is, mercy will enter the encounter. Which makes it a Christian encounter, and not one that is absent Christ who is in the midst of us.
All of us have found ourselves on both ends of this relational matter. Us going to someone, and someone coming to us. I’ve been on both ends of what Jesus teaches here too many times to count. Neither end is much fun, when we seek the forgiveness of another, or when forgiveness is being sought from us.
I stand by my longstanding belief that forgiveness remains the hardest Christian virtue to practice in genuineness, authenticity and truth. It makes the practice of love look real easy.
What can be eye-opening is how there are some people who excel at offering and accepting forgiveness. Not many, but there’s a few of them out there. You may be one of the few. Not that it’s easier for them to forgive someone when they’ve been sinned against. It’s not easier. But they take the words of Jesus to heart, determined to develop a genuine practice that when this virtue needs to be asked for, or extended to another person, they’re determined to do it, and deal with the possibility of failure.
In the world of politics alone, there are countless opportunities to bring this virtue into the heart of our lives. And it’s mostly because we watch too much cable news. Programs that cause anger, hatred, bitterness, tearing our internal makeup to pieces.
Jesus offers a method on the virtue of forgiveness. A system for righting wrongs. Wrongs against us, and the wrongs we commit. It’s an interesting method. First, the one-on-one approach. When this fails, go to the Church, the Lord says. The words, “The Church” are not reserved for the priest alone, to make you aware of this.
“The Church” is anyone in the Church community who is a respectable, God-fearing person. They have to live in the fear of the Lord, which is code for humility and wisdom. And, if they don’t listen to the Church, then treat them like a Gentile or tax collector. Remember, Jesus is speaking to his time. They understand exactly what he means with Gentile and tax collector.
Then there may come a point with regard to seeking forgiveness, or extending it. A point where we’ve done our best, left no stones unturned, left everything on the field as they say in sports, and turn it over to God 100%. That’s how I see this teaching of our Lord of treating someone like a Gentile or tax collector. There comes a time to move on.
To have the courage and wherewithal to practice this Divine system of forgiveness, from the one on one, to getting more people involved, to shaking the dust off your feet and moving on to the next town, is to reach fulfillment with this central virtue in our faith in Jesus.
It’s important for parents- and grandparents - to teach children how to forgive. Every set of siblings who are 5 and 6 years of age, or 8 and 10 years of age, are going to excel at fighting and biting each other.
And when we Christians excel at fighting one another, or fighting with those of other belief systems, we, as adult Christians, are to excel at forgiveness too. We cannot push aside this virtue because we think it’s too hard to practice. If we do not try, we are in deep trouble when we stand before Jesus. Lack of forgiveness leads to lack of heaven.
On the better side, to practice this virtue as best we can, through all the heartache, the pain, and the suffering, to practice mercy is to reach a highpoint in our spiritual lives. St. Paul calls this in today’s reading, “Love is the fulfillment of the law.”
Jesus teaches there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. One of the foremost ways to lay down one’s life, or laying down the anger, hatred, vengeance, and such, is to practice the virtue of forgiveness.
A human heart in sync with this virtue that Jesus practiced while dying on the Cross, is a human heart ready for the joys of heaven. The gate is narrow, as the Lord teaches, but mercy extended and sought opens wide the gate to life. Such is the power of this virtue, revealing Jesus is in our midst.