24th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A
Go to Heaven
Rev. James A. Wickersham
You’ve got a friend or family member who has let you down when it really counts. If they’re a friend, you can just not call and maybe they’ll get a clue. Family is a whole different thing, though. But let’s say you have a friend or family member who is actually trying to change their ways. Deep within there can still be mistrust. We are so used to their way of living that we are always expecting the next shoe to drop.
But for some reason it doesn’t. In today’s first reading Sirach gets to the heart of our anger and resentment: “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” Ever have this problem?
In my time as a priest, I’ve seen some pretty incredible conversions happen. Things I can’t explain. People who suddenly begin to mend their ways. And when they come to me, I have to admit that it can be hard to forget what they’ve done to me in the past.
I’m sure you all know where I’m going next. As Catholic Christians, we can’t leave the obvious unsaid: I’ve hurt people in the past. I’m also sure I’ll hurt people in the future. It seems to be a fact of life for me. I hope it’s not true for you. Maybe you’re in the class with the sinless Virgin Mary.
The truth is that our forgiveness of others must begin with God’s mercy toward us. Without that, forgiveness can turn into a personal power trip. If they grovel sufficiently, then I will forgive.
In the psalm today we hear: “The Lord is kind and merciful.” And Scripture says that the Lord has not dealt with us according to our sins.
The Lord knows what we’ve done. We come to him, we repent, and he forgives us.
Then Jesus gives us that image in the Gospel of the servant who has just been forgiven an enormous debt. He goes out, finds another servant who owes him far less, grabs him by the throat and says, “Pay back what you owe.”
He remembers what the other man owes him. He has already forgotten what was forgiven him.
I cannot sugarcoat this Gospel. Jesus commands us to forgive. Not seven times, but seventy-seven times. And that becomes very difficult when our mind keeps replaying the offense. We remember what happened. We remember what was said. We remember what we wish we had said back. We feel justified in our anger. We can even begin to think the other person deserves to suffer.
This shows us where our heart still needs conversion. Our conversion is to desire for that person what God desires.
And what does God desire? Their salvation.
Yes, the person who hurt you. The person you struggle to forgive. God wants that person with him in heaven forever.
Can I want that too?
Forgiveness does not excuse the wrong or require restored trust. It means I no longer desire their suffering, but their salvation. I want their debt of sin before God forgiven too, just as mine has been forgiven.
The Lord has also given us this parish as a place to learn mercy. I don’t think a day goes by in our archdiocese where one person does not offend another. The Church is the spotless bride of Christ, but we, the members of the Body of Christ, are far from perfect. So here, among one another, we learn how to forgive.
A few weeks ago I spoke about forgiveness as being almost like a liturgical act. The best way I have learned to practice forgiveness is to renew it. We forgive someone, and later the memory comes back. The anger comes back. We start having the argument all over again in our head.
We forgive again because our heart still needs conversion.
When the anger comes back, pray this:
“Lord Jesus, once more I give you the people I struggle to forgive. I want for them what you want. Save them. Forgive their sins as you have forgiven mine. And if one day I see them with you in heaven, let me rejoice in their salvation.”
Do that again when the anger returns. Do it seventy-seven times a day if necessary.
And little by little, the Lord converts our heart until we begin to want for the person who hurt us what he has wanted for us all along: mercy, forgiveness, and eternal life.
