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 must 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 or forget past grievances. But he did mean that aware of God’s love for them,
the person or state can act with 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 whom he calls
disobedient. Responding to the prayer, God
saves the youth from the furnace and sends 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 seven digits. His 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 God loves us. But
we need not measure our sins to the extent to which we have been forgiven. Out of love God gives us life, friends, work,
and rest. For these reasons we should be
ready to forgive our debtors.
