24th Sunday in Ordinary Time(Cycle A, Year I)
September 17, 2017
Community Word
Jesus enlightens the hearts of those who trust in God’s ways.
Theme:
Our hearts are enlightened when we forgive others and treat them with compassion.
Promise:
“Forgive your neighbor’s injustice, then your own sins will be forgiven.”(Sir 28:2)
Reflection:
The liturgical readings of the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time dwell on the depth of God’s mercy on us and the significance of accepting God’s forgiveness and His call for us to forgive other.
The king’s mercy in the Gospel parallels the disposition of God who readily forgives our sins every time we come to Him in humble repentance. And He call us to do the same for an erring brother. But, how many times should you forgive him? Jesus’ reply to Peter is”I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times,” (Mt 18:22) Jesus puts a number in His answer to Peter to stress a point. It is more than the quantity of times to forgive without limit, without condition, without hesitation.
We too must forgive without limit, just as God forgives us without limit when we commit sin. Anyone who refuses to forgive will never experience the joy and peace of God’s forgiveness. It says in Sirach 28:3: “Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord? The painful truth is that while God readily forgive us, we tend to be unforgiving toward those who offend us as we continue to nurture emotional hurt. Even people of faith struggle to forgive when the wrongdoing being committed is terribly violent and evidently wrong. But the Lord works through forgiveness from the heart. This is expressed in our theme for this week: Our hearts are enlightened when we forgive others with compassion. He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass. But one who has a forgiving heart is a “transformed” person and he received God’s love and the wonderful grace of His forgiveness.
In our relationship with our brothers and sisters, we must not be guided by our self-interest because as Paul tells the Romans, “we live for the Lord, we die for the Lord,” (Rom 14:8). Therefore, we should ask and pray for widsom to be merciful to others as God has shown mercy to u. Let us share His saving love with others and embrace the great thing He wants to do through us. Our decision to forgive offenders is always accompanied by God’s grace. Jesus invites us to see that we are all “debtors” before God, so we need to seek His mercy because our sins and failing. We are also indebted to Him for every good gift that we receive in countless ways. God only requires us to forgive the little that our neighbor may owe us.
Forgiveness doe not show weakness but strength and power, truly a godly virtue. It enables us to stop reacting and to take control of ourselves. Forgiveness does more good for us than for the one we forgive because it sets us free. To start the process of forgiveness, prayer for the other is always the good approach to start with. Look into the future and do not dwell in the past. While we have hurts from the past, forgiveness comes as we look forward to what we can be in our life and not to what it was. Life is short and we all need to look to our future with the Lord. We do not only reconcile ourselves to God, but also to our self, our neighbor and the community to which we belong. We can then grow and be the person that Jesus wants us to b, as we channel our efforts to more important matters in life.
This is the promise and assurance that the Lord tells us this week: “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice, then your own sins will be forgiven,”(Sir 28:2). Today, we are called into the joy of the Lord by putting our hatred, anger and sinful past to death that we may be free to a great and overflowing river of forgiveness and compassion.
Prayer:
Loving Lord, You revealed Yourself to us as our Father who is kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in compassion. You enfold us in Your warm embrace giving us your infinite mercy and unconditional love. You forgave our sins in Your warm embrace giving us your infinite mercy and unconditional love. You forgave our sins seven times but seventy-seven times, and you even paid a terrible price for our sinfulness. O dear Lord, grant us Your mercy and grace that we may be Your instruments of compassion and forgiveness toward others. Amen
Reflection Guides:
1. What are those things or instances when another person caused me pain and emotional hurt? How much and how far am I will to forgive?
2. How do I say ‘I forgive you or ‘I am sorry form my heart?
3. Share an experience when you were able to forgive. How much did that make you feel?
This Week’s Daily Mass Reading Guide:
September 17 2017 (Sun)- Sir 27:30-28:7/Ps 103:1-4,9-12/Rom 14:7-9/Mt 18:21-35
September 18, 2017(Mon)– 1Tm 2:1-8/Ps 28:2,7-9/Lk 7:1-10
September 19, 2017(Tues)–1Tm 3:1-13/Ps 101:1-3
September 20, 2017(Wed) –1Tm 3:14-16/Ps 111:1-6/Lk 7:31-35
September 21, 2017 (Thur)- Eph 4:1-7,11-13/Ps 19:2-5/Mt 9:9-13
September 22, 2017 (Fri)– 1Tm 6:2-12/Ps 49:6-10,17-20/Lk 8:1-3
September 23, 2017(Sat)–1Tm 6:13-14/Ps 100:1-5/Lk 8:4-15
“Ignorance of the Bible is ignorance of Christ. Read your Bible daily!”
