Have you ever wondered why the 10 Commandments had to be … well, commandments? After all, even if the atheist omits the first ones concerning God, the others common-sensically speak to honor and integrity, not to mention facilitating a peaceful society. And yet … selfishness gains the upper hand and we loose the reins of the passions, the Commandments become just “good advice” … not really binding, but lovely ideas. Well … good luck with that; even the secular world condemns those who transgress the last seven.
And yet … there is one commandment of Jesus not called “Commandment” per se, but rather is by the emphasis that He explicitly gives to it—that virtue we find so very hard to practice at times: Forgiveness of others.
Remembrance of this came to the fore at the Catholic Mass this weekend as we read Jesus’ parable of Matthew 18, in which a man who is forgiven a huge debt by a king nonetheless himself refuses to forgive and condemns a man for a much smaller debt, thus earning the righteous wrath of the king. Jesus introduces this parable by stating that we are to forgive “not seven times, but seventy-seven times” … re-presented in another Gospel as “not seven times, but seven times seventy times.”
Hmmm … 490 times then? Some of you husbands are going to be out of luck pretty quick!
Well … Jesus, is, of course, simply using rabbinic metaphor and not being literal, His real meaning being that there is to be no end to the forgiveness we offer to others. And this is only just, because there is no limit to the forgiveness that God offers to US.
When we consider objectively, we realize that most of the ways that we are sinned against are trivial—a thoughtless or even mean remark, or someone shorts us 10 bucks, or doesn’t give us the so-called respect that we think we deserve.
O … but how these little pinpricks and slights make us burn … simmering and infecting our soul over almost nothing. And yet…how much God forgives … multitudes of offenses against both Him and our fellow Man racked up over the years. We Christians believe that each sin we commit is an offense against Him and His Holiness … and thus against the angels, saints and the entire Body of Christ, His Church.
Each sin/offense wounds of God’s heart, and when God’s heart is wounded, it wounds all of us, for goodness itself is wounded. Yet, ANY offense against a person is also a sin against God because we wound a child of God. You parents well experience that your suffering is a hundredfold more intense than your child’s when he suffers.
But … our God—like the song proclaims—is a gracious and awesome God—ever ready to forgive those who are truly repentant and seek to turn to the good. He loves so much that He sent His Son to suffer and die upon the cross so that both the wholeness of justice might be fulfilled while we might be forgiven as He takes upon Himself our injustices.
Yet … in order to BE forgiven, we must be willing to—and seek to—ourselves forgive. Both Jesus and St. Paul—His apostle—are adamant about this. We cannot nurse hatred and vengeance and yet expect God to forgive us. We read in the book of Sirach:
Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;
then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
Could anyone nourish anger against another
and expect healing from the LORD?
Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself,
can he seek pardon for his own sins?
Forgiveness is one of the greatest of virtues, stemming from humility. If we seek Heaven, we must at least sincerely try to forgive, for St. Paul tells us: “…as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Colossians 3:13), and Jesus Himself warns: “…if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do NOT forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive YOUR trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15) And, of course, we pray daily to God: “…forgive us OUR trespasses, AS WE FORGIVE those who trespass against us.”
Does this not show that forgiving others is NOT optional, but rather a requirement for eternal life … to return to others what we have ourselves so abundantly received from the treasury of God’s love? Should we not, then, at least try to reflect the magnanimity of God in forgiving? Certainly we will not succeed in such perfection; that is impossible. But, as a mother cherishes her child’s sincere efforts made in love, so does God cherish our inevitably limping but sincere efforts to emulate Him.
St. Paul writes: “…the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (Romans 8:18)
Indeed, in the afterlife we will wonder why we ever got so upset at the trivial little hurts and offenses, asking ourselves: “Why did I even bother about that little thing? It was an opportunity to be an example and reflect God’s own mercy if I would have forgiven. I may have helped my offender overcome his fault and show him the love of God within myself. I might have brought him back to God!”
Or, we might rather wail: “How could I have been so stupid … so short-sighted … so petty?! Did I not hear God’s command to forgive! Fool! For a pinprick I forfeited everlasting life! For a pittance I forfeited the eternal treasure of Heaven!
St. Paul tells us we must forgive. Jesus tells us we must forgive.
So … what is stopping us … especially knowing that our eternal salvation may hinge upon our forgiving? We remember Jesus’ words:
“Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” (Luke 6:36-38)
St. Paul reminds us that no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived the joy that God has in store for those who love Him … and for those who forgive as He has forgiven.
Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.
"difficult" - Google News
September 13, 2020 at 08:24PM
https://ift.tt/3bSftN8
Fr. Glenn: That Most Difficult Of Virtues - Los Alamos Daily Post
"difficult" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2VWzYBO
https://ift.tt/3d5eskc
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Fr. Glenn: That Most Difficult Of Virtues - Los Alamos Daily Post"
Post a Comment