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Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Reading I: Sirach 27:30-28:7 1. It has been four years today, the first plane hit one of the TwinTowers in New York. People thought it was an accident. Then the second plane hit the other tower. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon. The horror finally dawned. Americans were being attacked within their own country. As we prayed for the victims of the Twin Tower Attack, I asked the question, “why would intelligent people (because they could fly planes and plan an elaborate attack) do such a vile thing like this?” The question was valid, but the timing was wrong. I upset many people by asking that question. I was accused of being anti-American and insensitive. Being anti-American I am not, being tactless, I was. 2. O There was a feeling of hurt and bewilderment, of anger and revenge. In the minds of the New Yorkers in particular that feeling is still there. The Muslim New Yorker is even more bewildered, together with anger and revenge for the destruction of important icons in his city, - there are suspicious looks thrown his way, as if he in a way is to blame for the attacks. I feel the same when I hear reports of priests involved in sexual assaults, even if the priest is at the other end of the world, in Australia. 3. Our readings start off with “ wrath and anger are hateful things.” It is a clear call to forgiveness. Sirach calls us to forgive our neighbour’s injustice so that our own sins may be forgiven. One can easily see the relationship to Peter’s question in the Gospel, “how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” However, Jesus does give an answer, not seven, but seventy times seven. Jesus then goes on to tell a parable which is apparently linked to the question of Peter.... linked by “therefore” The parable, on the surface, deals with our obligation as Christians or an invitation from Christ to forgive again and again and again, if we have been hurt. However, the heart of the matter is that this is a parable that deals with an invitation to show Mercy just like God shows mercy. It might be at times when we have been hurt and need to forgive and show mercy. It might be times when we have not been hurt, but need to show mercy to other human beings, because of their errors, sins and mistakes. God is described as being “full of mercy and compassion, slow to anger and abounding in love .” And so in the words of Reginald Fuller, “parable does not inculcate repeated forgiveness but rebukes refusal to show mercy on the part of those who have received mercy from God.” 4. So how do we forgive those involved in the Bombing of Nine-Eleven. There is nobody to forgive, they were all blown up in smithereens. I did not have any relatives or friends involved - but I know friends who did. And on the surface it might seem only academic. However, in our second reading today, Paul tells us in the letter to the Romans “The fundamental principle here is that no Christian exists by himself or herself, but only in relation to Christ. The Christian exists in relation to other Church members, who are equally related to Christ.” And so as one of hymns “ their life is life to me, their death is my own.” Unconnected though I may be - I still cry thinking of that bombing and wasted lives four years ago. It also started a chain reaction, and now a thousand more Americans and a hundred thousand Iraqis have lost their lives. How does one forgive? People say in order to truly forgive, I must “forgive and forget”. Unfortunately “forgive and forget” is rather a cute saying but it does not jive with reality. Forgiving is a decision that I take. It is a decision that I can make even though I might not feel like forgiving, even though I dislike forgiving, even though the person that needs forgiving does not deserve forgiving - eg. a serial killer, a person who physically or sexually assaults children. 5. I forgive not because I am a hero or large hearted, but it is because it is human thing to do, it is a Christian thing to do. Forgetting on the other hand is a part of nature. As I grow older, I forget many things, even good things. But I remember something evil done to me as a part of self defence and self preservation. Way back in 1520, John Heywood would say “a burnt child dreads fire” and it has become a part of our often quoted sayings. As a result, I will forgive you for hurting me, but I will build up mechanisms, or will not put myself in situations where you can hurt me again. 6 Then we read the Gospel and we are invited, - Jesus never forces us to do anything - we are invited to be merciful as Our Heavenly Father is merciful. Jesus tells us this parable not as a moral lesson on life and how it is to be lived, but rather to shame us, the Church into living out our baptismal promises. To reject the world and all its empty promises, not to be seduced by the standards and values that surround us. That is very difficult, because when we are injured we want to see justice done. It seems only fair and there is a lot of power and sympathy for the one suffering injustice. Once again, the wise old Sirach from the first reading reminds us “The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail.” - and again: hate not your neighbour; remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults. And so our invitation is to leave Justice and Vengeance in the hands of the Lord. 7. To put it starkly: Forgiving is not easy. I would venture to say, “it is impossible but for the grace of God.” The grace is there in plenty and there is also the model for the mode of forgiving, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” Jesus would say this of the learned and intelligent Pharisees who continually sort ways by which they could get rid of him. 7a The corollary to this is and many of us have learnt this the hard way - through our own experience. When we refuse to forgive, we get horribly handcuffed to the one who has caused us the pain. It becomes a vicious circle - closing us to a forgiving God - and thus we barricade ourselves from the very experience of being forgiven ourselves. It is not a matter of God not forgiving us for being vengeful, but rather we have put a tourniquet on the channel of God’s forgiving love. To be truly free of hatred and vengeance - there is one and only one way, which Jesus has taught us: Love one another as I have loved you. Then the issue of whether I should forgive seven times or seventy times seven would not even be an issue. We would be showing mercy as Our Heavenly Father is merciful. That is all that matters. End with a story: Maria’s choice: In the Philippines, Maria had been working not long at Balay Pasilungan. She had been studying to be a social worker. There were about forty boys - some orphans, some abandoned. Three were chosen at random and she was put in charge of them. After working for an hour with them, she came to the supervisor looking flushed and disturbed. It was assumed that because she was new, this experience might unnerve her. But it was not the case. The first boy she interviewed was there because his father was in prison for murder. But it was explained to Maria that such cases could be quite common, the boys were there because their parents were in prison. But Maria burst out, “ his father was in prison and the man he had murdered was Maria’s own father.” After recovering from the shock of the news, the supervisor suggested that perhaps Maria would be given other charges, or she could work at another branch. No Maria replied. I am a social worker, but I am also a Christian. It is not the boy’s fault that his father committed that crime, I would like to work with the boy and help him to adjust to his life, as I have to mine. It will be a healing for both.
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ur readings today are about forgiveness and peace. One can be
bland and sterile and speak of our petty hurts and how we need to forgive. Perhaps that is all we can do. But we are also a part of a bigger picture. And in our own way and for our own sakes, we must talk and
reflect on our feelings on this fourth anniversary of what we call the Nine-Eleven.