Deacon Kevin Gingras
August 20th, 2023
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091723.cfm
Sir 27:30—28:7 Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Today Jesus tells us to forgive 7 times 70 times - 490 times. It seems kind of oddly specific. I figure with that number in mind my wife Allison already forgave me more than 490 times around the time I proposed to her in my car while driving around the Middleboro Rotary back in the late 80s!
The human need for forgiveness goes farther back than the 80’s, all the way back to Genesis where, out of jealousy Cain kills his brother Abel. Soon after in Genesis, we hear of a man named Lamech who was Cain’s great-great-great-great-grandson. Lamech killed a man simply for wounding him and he says to his wives:
If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
What does this mean in Genesis? Cain’s violent past is continuing but the question is how will God’s creation be renewed now? There is a prophecy in the book of Daniel 9:24-27 that reads:
“Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and for your holy city: Then transgression will stop and sin will end, guilt will be expiated, Everlasting justice will be introduced, vision and prophecy ratified, and a holy of holies will be anointed. Know and understand: From the utterance of the word that Jerusalem was to be rebuilt until there is an anointed ruler, there shall be seven weeks.
The holy of holies will be anointed - anointed in Hebrew means Messiah. Daniel’s prophetic vision was of seven, seventy-year periods and that equals 490 years, and then an anointed one will be cut down. 457 BC to AD 33 is 490 years (Jesus died around 33 AD).
It’s clear Jesus wasn’t just throwing out some odd random number when He said “seven times seventy times”, he was, pointing to Old Testament prophecy and scripture.
Of course, we know the rest of the story - we will be renewed by the ultimate and perfect sacrifice offered for the forgiveness of our sins, Jesus Christ, the perfect unsinful lamb of God. Even with that we still hold on to sin as our first reading from Sirach tells us:
Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the LORD's vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor's injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
We are talking about parts of the Mass again in September and one of the parts we need to focus on is forgiveness. Forgiveness has two major parts, first, forgiveness for ourselves and what we have done wrong, and then forgiveness of others who have wronged us.
First, let’s touch on forgiveness of ourselves. We open Mass with the entrance antiphon, we reverence the Altar, have the greeting, and next up, the Penitential Act in which we typically use the Confitier. That’s where we begin with “I confess to almighty God and to you my brothers and sisters”. We state how we have greatly sinned because any sin is an offense against God and hurts our relationship with Him. We confess not only what we have done and said, but also what we failed to do and thought about doing. It’s basically a formula of general confession and ends with the Priest's absolution BUT, and this is a big deal, it lacks the efficacy of the Sacrament of Penance, in other words, we still need to go to Confession to a priest - who is in persona Christi - or in the person of Christ in the confessional. Confession with a priest is not optional. Confession is often called the forgotten Sacrament. Don’t let it be forgotten. Even if it has been a very long time, perhaps since your first confession way back in second grade, it doesn’t matter. Sure, it’s uncomfortable and squirmy, I don’t like it at all while I am confessing my sins but that discomfort helps me avoid sin in the future! When finished we have those wonderful words of true absolution when the priest says “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. The feeling after that is fantastic!
Next up is forgiveness of others. I don’t think any of us want to be the wicked servant from today’s Gospel. Soon, together we will all pray the Our Father, in which we say “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”. We tell God not to forgive us unless we also are forgiving! Later in the Mass, we will encounter the Rite of Peace just before the Eucharist is distributed. Mathew 5:23-24 tells us:
If you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
The General Instruction of the Roman Missal talks about the Rite of Peace as the way “by which the Church entreats peace and unity for herself and for the whole human family, and the faithful express to each other their ecclesial communion and mutual charity before communicating in the Sacrament”.
The Catholic Church is defined by its four marks - we are One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. We need to act as one and to do that we must forgive.
Remember, God is our creator so trust God to know what’s best for us. Forgiveness is not just us forgiving others, but also forgiving ourselves too, especially in the sacrament of Confession. Do NOT fear Confession.
St. John Paull II had this to say about Confession:
“Confession is an act of honesty and courage – an act of entrusting ourselves, beyond sin, to the mercy of a loving and forgiving God.”
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