Tuesday, March 9, 2021

Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

(Daniel 3:25.34-43; Matthew 18:21-35)

In his message for the World Day of Peace in 2002, Pope St. John Paul II reflected on the 9-11 terrorist attacks.  He repeated the proverb that without justice, there is no peace.  He also made the insight that without forgiveness there is no justice.  People have to give up their claims for past injuries if they ever expect to have right relationships with others.  He was not advocating that nations or individuals ignore past grievances.  But he did mean that feeling God’s love, the person or state can express love for the offender. This love may be called mercy.

Both readings today show the need for mercy.  The young man praying in the furnace asks for God’s mercy on his people who calls disobedient.  God will save the youth from the furnace and bring his people back to the land of the ancestors.  The parable of Jesus is stunning in its contrast.  The original debtor is said to owe “a huge amount.”  One should think in terms of ten digits of dollars.  The second debtor owes “a much smaller amount,” perhaps a few hundred dollars.  Yet the first debtor cannot forgive him.  There will never be justice in that first debtor’s life, much less peace.

We can forgive others when we remember how much love God has for us.  We need not assess our sins to see how much we have been forgiven.  Out of love God gives us life, friends, work, and rest.  For these reasons we should be ready to forgive.