We all err, and I can tell you it happens often and sometimes deeply. It is difficult to find anyone who has nothing to make right in someone else’s life. That is why this Sunday’s readings place anger, wrath, debt, mercy, and forgiveness before us. Sirach (27:30-28:7) reminds us that holding on to anger while seeking God’s mercy is a contradiction, while Psalm 103 (v. 8) celebrates a God who is “merciful and gracious” and removes our sins from us. In the gospel (Matthew 18:21–35), Jesus takes this argument even further, saying that because we ourselves live continually from God’s forgiveness, we cannot reasonably refuse forgiveness to others. I must quickly add here that forgiveness does not deny the hurt or excuse wrongdoing; rather, it releases us from allowing another person’s failure to imprison our hearts. Forgiveness helps us break the yoke.
The foundation of the freedom that this weekend’s liturgy speaks about is love. Jesus commands us in the gospel acclamation to “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34), while Paul adds that whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord (Romans 14:7-9). We are bound by the love we first received from God, and we don’t live for ourselves. Lasting happiness is not achieved by keeping track of what others owe us but by acknowledging the continuous mercy that God extends to us and allowing that mercy to flow through us to others. We are all wounded, we all need forgiveness, and we all have something to give back to each other. When we embrace God’s overwhelming love and extend it freely and reciprocally to one another, anger gives way to peace, resentment to freedom, and broken relationships to the possibility of a second chance.
