Memorial of Saint
Maximilian Kolbe, priest and martyr
(Ezekiel 12:1-12; Matthew 18:21-19:1)
Love is at the center of the gospel, but not any kind of
love. No, Jesus testifies to God’s
forgiving love by his cross and resurrection.
Humans have always sinned against God, particularly by their injustice
to one another. Jesus came as the just human
who never sinned. In fact, his goodness
extended to the giving of himself completely for the sake of humanity. God raised Jesus from the dead as an
acknowledgement that the myriad offenses which humans have committed have been forgiven. Those who give themselves to Jesus are
re-created, dead to sin and alive with his goodness.
The followers of Christ in turn must exhibit the same
forgiving love of God by forgiving one another.
The parable of today’s gospel illustrates that human forgiveness of one
another is a mere shadow of God’s forgiveness, yet some refuse to do so. They hold others to strict account for
everything done to them like the airline which charges for everything from allowing
baggage to providing water. The first debtor having been forgiven a huge sum
should have been more than willing to forgive his own debtor of a trivial
amount. His refusal to do it shows that
he is not in the company of Jesus, that he remains outside the new creation.
Often enough we are asked to forgive a debt of another
that in no way is trivial. Perhaps a
drunk driver killed our child. The
person sobers up and begs our forgiveness.
We do not feel at all like saying, even in our prayer, I forgive that
one. In this case, let’s pray for the
grace to be more like Jesus, to say, “My love for you, my God, surpasses my
abhorrence for what has been done to me.”
