Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Dear friends in Christ
There are some lessons in life which we never quite finish learning. We may learn our maths, study history and geography, acquire qualifications and degrees, but there are certain lessons which have to be learned again and again. One of the hardest is the lesson of forgiveness. In the Gospel this Sunday, Peter comes to Our Lord with what he probably thinks is a very generous offer: Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Seven times sounds like a great deal. But Our Lord’s answer is startling: Not seven times, but seventy times seven. Jesus is not giving Peter a complicated calculation. He is telling him that forgiveness cannot be reduced to a number. If we are to be His disciples, forgiveness must become part of the way we live.
The parable of the unforgiving servant makes the point very clearly. A man owes his master an enormous debt, far beyond anything he could possibly repay. Yet the master, moved with compassion, forgives the whole debt. The servant then meets someone who owes him a comparatively small amount and refuses to show the mercy which he himself has received. It is a powerful warning to us. How easily we can forget how much God has forgiven us, while remembering with remarkable clarity the faults of others. We can carry old grievances for years, rehearse old conversations in our minds, and keep alive injuries which, if we are honest, we should have surrendered long ago to the mercy of God. Forgiveness does not mean pretending that something hurtful did not happen. Nor does it mean that justice does not matter. It means refusing to allow another person’s sin to have the final word in our lives. We place the matter into God’s hands and ask for the grace to let go.
And perhaps this is where this Education Sunday has something important to say to us. Education is not simply about passing examinations or acquiring information. At its best, education teaches us how to become fully human. Children need to learn not only mathematics and languages, but patience, kindness, responsibility, generosity and the ability to say both I am sorry and I forgive you. These are lessons which cannot be learned merely from a textbook. They are learned by example. Our schools, our families and our parishes all have a part to play in forming young people who know not only how to succeed in life, but how to live well. And perhaps there is no better lesson we can give them than the lesson of forgiveness. When a child sees an adult willing to apologise, to forgive, to begin again and not to hold a grudge, something profound is being taught. Ultimately, forgiveness is a lesson we learn from Christ Himself. At the Cross, when He had every reason to condemn, He prayed for those who had crucified Him. And every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we ask to be forgiven as we forgive those who trespass against us. It is a demanding prayer. But it is also a liberating one. So, as we celebrate Education Sunday, let us remember that some of the most important things our children—and indeed all of us—have to learn cannot be examined on a piece of paper. We have to learn how to love, how to serve, how to say sorry, and how to forgive. And perhaps today we might ask ourselves a simple question: Is there someone whom I need to forgive? If there is, let us bring that person before Christ. For the same Lord who has forgiven us is asking us, in turn, to become people of mercy. That may be one of the hardest lessons we ever learn—but it is also one of the most beautiful.
With every blessing!
Msgr Kevin Hale