Homily: Friday of the First Week of Lent

Friday of the First Week of Lent (Mt. 5:20-26) “Forgive As I Forgive You”

Forgiveness. How many of us struggle with forgiving others who have hurt us? How many of us have a hard time saying we are sorry?

Jesus ties forgiveness to worship. He says we cannot address God in a sincere fashion if we have hatred in our heart for another person.

We remember the Our Father which is the most perfect prayer that Jesus gave his followers earlier in this Gospel. Jesus said in that prayer, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” We can expect the mercy we will receive from God in the same measure as we have extended mercy.

In the Jewish faith if someone sinned against another person or committed sin of any kind one of the ways they could receive forgiveness was to make a sacrifice in the temple. The sacrifice would be a remedy for sin.

This was not all that was necessary though. It was expected that the one making the sacrifice would have made amends with the person that had been offended before the sacrifice in the temple. The sacrifice did not negate the need to make peace with someone you were arguing with.

The sacrifice was either a sign of thanksgiving that a quarrel had been mended or it was one last step in the process of forgiveness. God was a party in the dispute.

We could say that there are three parties that must feel forgiven when we have a fight. We achieve reconciliation with the person we are arguing with. We must feel that we can forgive ourselves. Finally, we must feel that God forgives us. The sacrifice was meant to apologize to God and receive a sense of absolution.

Reflection Questions:

1.    Do I apologize to God when I hurt another person or myself? Would that bring healing?

2.   Does the Sacrament of Reconciliation heal the wound of sin? Do we have to do other things to make amends?

 Dear Parishioners,

           Some people may be wondering what is going on with the Growing Disciples process. Another model has been proposed for the consolidation of parishes. It will be reviewed by the priests in the next two weeks. We will make final recommendations and then it will be up to Bishop Tylka to make decisions.

          He will make his decisions by Pentecost. Then there will be time for implementation. This may take several years. I would ask everyone to continue to pray for all concerned.

          May Our Lady pray for us as Lent continues,

          Fr. Mark