Homily, 13th August

In the First Reading, Ezekiel performs a strange sign.

He packs his belongings for exile. He breaks through the wall.

He leaves in darkness with his face covered.

God is showing Jerusalem what is coming.

The people have eyes, but they refuse to see.

They have ears, but they refuse to hear.

Sin has consequences.

For years they have resisted God.

Now the judgement they refused to believe is approaching.

There is a warning here for us.

We can become accustomed to sin. We can excuse it.

We can postpone repentance.

We can tell ourselves that there will always be another opportunity.

But conversion cannot safely be postponed. Today is the day to return to God.

The Gospel shows us one of the clearest signs that conversion is real: forgiveness.

Peter asks how often he must forgive his brother. Seven times?

Our Lord answers: not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Christian forgiveness is not something we measure with a ledger.

Because God does not forgive us according to a ledger.

Christ tells the parable of a servant who owes his king an impossible debt.

He cannot repay it.

Yet the king, moved with compassion, forgives everything.

That servant then meets a fellow servant who owes him a comparatively tiny amount.

He seizes him by the throat. He demands payment. He refuses mercy.

That is the contradiction Christ wants us to see.

Every one of us lives by mercy.

Our sins placed us in a debt we could never repay.

But Christ paid the debt upon the Cross.

In Confession, the repentant sinner does not receive part of God’s mercy.

The sin is absolved. The debt is cancelled. Grace restores the soul.

And therefore the person who has received mercy must become merciful.

Forgiveness does not mean pretending that evil was good.

It does not mean abandoning justice or necessary prudence.

It means surrendering hatred.

It means refusing revenge.

It means placing judgement into the hands of God.

My brothers and sisters, is there someone we have refused to forgive?

Someone whose offence we repeatedly rehearse?

Someone we want to see punished rather than converted?

Remember the debt Christ has forgiven you.

Go to Confession when necessary.

Receive His mercy.

Then ask for the grace to give that mercy to others.

For the forgiven Christian must become a forgiving Christian.

And the heart that shows mercy is being made ready for the Kingdom of God.