Invitation / Wedding Garment (2026-10-11, Sunday 28th)

[ver_04]   28^th Sunday _Year A ● ●   October 11, 2026  ● ● 

● ●   Isaiah 25:6-25:10a ● ●   Psalm 23:1-23:3a, 23:3b-23:4, 23:5, 23:6 ● ●   Philippians 4:12-4:14, 4:19-4:20 ● ●   Matthew 22:1-22:14 ● ●

 The Invitation and the Wedding Garment

1. The Invitation — Our Last Family Vacation

Jesus tells a parable about a king who prepares a wedding banquet for his son. Invitations are sent out, but many of the invited guests have other priorities. They have other things to do, and they don't show up.

We know what that's like. We receive invitations, and sometimes we accept them. Other times, we have other priorities.

Many years ago, my family went on vacation together. It was actually the last family vacation we ever took with just the six of us—my parents, my three siblings, and me—before marriages, careers, and other responsibilities changed our family life.

Our vacation took place during the week of August 15th, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation.

My mother told us we were all going to Mass that Tuesday.

Nobody particularly wanted to go. We were on vacation! But my mother insisted, and we went.

And I have to tell you, it wasn't a particularly enjoyable experience.

The church was extremely crowded. The air conditioning wasn't working very well. The homily was terrible. And I don't think we particularly liked the priest either!

Now that I'm a priest myself, I have a little more sympathy for him. In fact, I still remember him in my prayers from time to time.

But what stayed with me was that my mother was glad we had gone to Mass, even though the rest of us weren't particularly happy about the experience.

Looking back, I realize she was teaching us something important.

Our relationship with God cannot depend entirely upon whether everything goes the way we want it to go.

Sometimes the music isn't what we prefer. Sometimes the homily isn't what we wanted to hear. Sometimes we'd rather be doing something else.

But it matters that we are here. It matters that we have heard God's invitation and responded.

2. The Wedding Garment — How God Sees Us

But today's Gospel takes an unexpected turn.

The king sends his servants to invite others, and the banquet hall fills with guests. Then the king notices someone who has accepted the invitation and shown up, but who isn't wearing the proper wedding garment.

Now, I wonder: Did the other guests even notice how this man was dressed?

We don't know. But the king noticed.

And that reminds us of something important.

We often compare ourselves with other people. We notice their appearance, their accomplishments, their behavior. Sometimes we judge ourselves by how we compare with them.

But we don't really know what's going on inside another person's life.

We don't know all their struggles, their sins, their sacrifices, or even their hidden acts of kindness.

But God knows. God sees what other people cannot see.

And I know I'm sometimes guilty of comparing myself with others rather than examining my own life according to the example of Jesus Christ.

I might say, "Well, I'm really not that bad. I haven't done anything seriously wrong."

But sometimes I don't even recognize the ways I need to change.

That's why I need prayer, reflection, and the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

In the Christian tradition, the wedding garment represents charity—the love of God and love of neighbor.

It's not simply about looking good or appearing religious.

The wedding garment represents the life of charity that God's grace is forming within us.

God invites us freely. But accepting that invitation also means allowing his grace to change our lives.

3. Confession and Saint Bernadette — Interior Conversion

Think about what happens when we go to confession.

Nobody else hears what we confess. Nobody sees what happens within our hearts.

But through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God forgives our sins, restores us through his mercy, and gives us the grace to begin again.

That's one example of how God helps us grow into that wedding garment.

And this past Wednesday, we had the extraordinary privilege of welcoming the relics of Saint Bernadette to Our Lady of Lourdes Parish.

It was a beautiful day. Many people came to pray, attend Mass, and venerate the relics. I'm grateful to everyone who helped welcome our visitors.

But we didn't welcome the relics simply to honor someone who lived many years ago.

Bernadette points beyond herself to the Blessed Virgin Mary. And Mary always points us toward Jesus Christ.

The purpose of our devotion is not simply to admire the holiness of the saints.

It is to allow God's grace to lead us toward holiness in our own lives.

4. After Mass — Growing Into the Wedding Garment

And that brings us back to the wedding garment.

We come to Mass because God invites us. We hear his Word. We receive the Eucharist. We encounter Christ in the sacraments.

But what happens when we leave church?

I know that sometimes I can walk out into the parking lot after Mass and find myself becoming impatient with somebody almost immediately!

Sometimes I may be less forgiving than I ought to be, even after celebrating Mass.

Conversion doesn't always happen instantaneously.

God continues to work within us, sometimes gradually, teaching us to become more patient, more forgiving, and more attentive to the needs of others.

And we are called to respond to that grace, day after day.

That's what it means to grow into the wedding garment.

It's not simply a costume we put on when we enter the church. It's not merely about showing up or appearing religious.

The wedding garment is the life of charity that God's grace is forming within us—a love of God that becomes visible in our love of neighbor.

God invites us to the banquet.

And by his grace, he prepares us to live as people who belong to his Kingdom.

God Who Comes Close (2026-10-07) Relics St. Bernadette

[ver_02]   27^th week Wednesday October 7, 2026  ● ●   Bernadette Relics / Holy Rosary ● ●  

The God Who Comes Close

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 — Our Lady of the Rosary
Visit of the Relics of Saint Bernadette Soubirous

1. “Lord, Teach Us to Pray”

There is something beautifully simple about the request the disciples make to Jesus in today's Gospel:

“Lord, teach us to pray.”

They have watched Jesus pray. They know that there is something about His relationship with the Father that they want for themselves.

And Jesus gives them words that are very familiar to us:

Father.
Your kingdom come.
Give us each day our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins.

They are simple words.

And perhaps that simplicity is particularly appropriate today, on the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, and on this extraordinary day when we welcome the relics of Saint Bernadette to our parish.

Because Bernadette was also taught to pray simply.

At Lourdes, she prayed the Rosary.

She did not arrive at the grotto with great theological knowledge. She did not arrive with power, wealth, education, or influence.

She came as Bernadette.

And God met her there.

2. God Comes Down

A few days ago, we heard the Gospel of the Good Samaritan.

There is an interesting geographical detail in that Gospel. The man is traveling down from Jerusalem to Jericho.

And it really is down.

Jerusalem is high in the hills. Jericho is one of the lowest cities on earth, near the Dead Sea, the lowest place on the earth's surface.

The man goes down—and at that low place, he is wounded and left beside the road.

And then someone unexpected comes to him.

A Samaritan.

To Jesus' listeners, the Samaritan is the outsider. He is the person they might have expected to stay away.

Instead, he comes close.

He sees the wounded man.

He bends down.

He tends his wounds.

He lifts him up.

The early Church saw something of Jesus Himself in that Samaritan.

Because this is what God does for us.

God comes down.

He does not remain at a safe distance from wounded humanity.

He comes to us in the lowest places—in our weakness, our suffering, our sin, our confusion, even in those moments when we wonder whether God is there at all.

3. Bernadette: Following Without Knowing Everything

And perhaps Saint Bernadette helps us understand what it means to receive that grace.

Bernadette was an unlikely messenger.

She came from poverty. Her health was poor. Her family had experienced hardship. And when she began describing what happened at the grotto, not everyone believed her.

She was questioned.

She was challenged.

She became the object of enormous attention.

And yet there is something striking about her humility.

Bernadette did not need to make herself the center of the story.

She did not pretend that she understood everything.

She simply tried to respond faithfully to what had been given to her.

That is an important lesson for us.

Sometimes we think following God means understanding exactly where God is leading us.

But very often it doesn't.

Sometimes faith means taking the next step without knowing the whole road.

Sometimes prayer means saying:

“Father, give us today our daily bread.”

Not bread for the next ten years.

Not an explanation for everything that has happened.

Daily bread.

Enough grace for today.

Bernadette followed with that kind of simplicity.

4. The Rosary and the Method of God

And that brings us to the Rosary.

The Rosary itself is simple.

Hail Mary.

Hail Mary.

Hail Mary.

Again and again.

But those repeated prayers keep bringing us back to Jesus.

We contemplate Christ with Mary.

The Annunciation.

The Visitation.

Bethlehem.

The Cross.

The Resurrection.

The Rosary keeps returning us to the great mystery at the center of our faith:

God comes close.

The God who created heaven and earth does not simply send us instructions from a distance.

God enters our history.

God takes flesh.

God becomes vulnerable.

God comes down among us.

And He does it quietly.

Not by overpowering the world, but through the humility of the Virgin Mary.

Through a child born at Bethlehem.

Through a Savior who kneels before His disciples.

Through a man who carries a Cross.

And even centuries later, at Lourdes, God's grace becomes visible again through someone the world could easily have overlooked: a poor young girl named Bernadette.

That seems to be the method of God.

God so often chooses what is humble in order to reveal what is great.

5. The Relics Point Beyond Bernadette

That is also why these relics are here today.

We do not come simply to look at something associated with a famous person.

Relics remind us that Christianity is incarnational.

God works through real human lives.

Through bodies.

Through places.

Through water.

Through bread and wine.

Through ordinary human beings who allow His grace to work within them.

Bernadette's relics therefore point beyond Bernadette.

They point toward Lourdes.

Lourdes points toward Mary.

And Mary always points toward Jesus.

Ultimately, everything brings us back to Christ.

The One who comes down to wounded humanity.

The One who teaches us to call God Father.

The One whom Mary carried within her.

The One whom Bernadette sought to follow.

The One who comes close to us even now.

And so perhaps our prayer today can be very simple.

When we are wounded, may we trust that Jesus will not pass us by.

When we do not understand where God is leading us, may we have the humility of Bernadette to take the next faithful step.

And when we pray the Rosary, may Mary always lead us where she led Bernadette:

not finally to herself,

but to her Son.

And we can make our own today the prayer the Church so often places upon our lips:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts;
that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy Son,
was made known by the message of an angel,
may by His Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of His Resurrection.

Amen.

Begin Again (2026-10-04 _ Sunday 27th)

[ver_04]   27^th Sunday _Year A   ● ●  October 4, 2026  ● ●   ● ●   ● Isaiah 5:1-7 ● Psalm 80 ● Philippians 4:6-9 ● Matthew 21:33-43  ●● ●

When Did Your Life Begin?

1. When Did Your Life Begin?

When did your life begin?

If I asked you that question, you would naturally think about your date of birth: month, day and year.

But there are other ways to answer that question.

Our life begins when we discover what we are good at, what we are going to do with our lives, what our calling or vocation might be.

Our life begins again when we confess our sins and receive absolution from God in the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.

Our life begins again when, with God's grace, we find the strength to forgive someone who has trespassed against us.

There are many times throughout our lives when God gives us the grace to begin again.

2. Priesthood, Home and Seminary

Sometimes people ask me, "Padre, when did you know you wanted to be a priest?"

There wasn't one particular moment.

After college, I took a gap year before going to the seminary—and then I repeated the gap year about thirteen times.

Eventually, I entered the seminary in my mid-thirties.

But after I entered the seminary, I realized that my formation for the priesthood had begun long before that.

It began at home—with my mother and father, my grandparents, my two brothers and my sister. It began through the way we lived together and practiced our faith.

God was already forming me before I understood where he was leading me.

And that's true for all of us.

God is at work in our lives even before we recognize what he is doing.

3. Respect Life Sunday

Today is Respect Life Sunday, and so that question—When did your life begin?—takes on another meaning.

Our Catholic faith teaches us that human life is sacred from conception until natural death.

Before we know whether a child will be rich or poor, strong or weak, healthy or sick, successful or unsuccessful, that life already has dignity.

Life is God's gift.

And Respect Life Sunday is not simply about winning an argument or proving a point.

It is about protecting unborn life, but also about caring for the mother and father who may be experiencing a difficult or crisis pregnancy.

It is about caring for the elderly, the sick, people living with disabilities, and anyone whose life may seem vulnerable or unwanted.

Every life has dignity.

4. Respect Life and Mercy

And respect for life has to become concrete.

Here at Our Lady of Lourdes, one way we do that during October is through our Respect Life Baby Shower.

We collect new items—diapers, blankets, clothing—and monetary donations for Several Sources in Ramsey, helping mothers, children and families who may need practical assistance.

But there is another way Respect Life Sunday has to become concrete.

It has to include mercy.

If you have ever been involved, directly or indirectly, in an abortion, or if you carry sorrow or regret because of one, remember this:

God's mercy is greater than any of our sins.

No sin is beyond God's reach.

And if you have been away from the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation for a long time, any priest—including me—would be happy to hear your confession and guide you through the steps.

There is contrition.

There is absolution.

There is forgiveness.

There is healing.

And with God's grace, life can begin again.

5. The Vineyard

That brings us to the vineyard in today's Gospel.

A landowner carefully prepares a vineyard and entrusts it to tenants.

When the time comes for the harvest, he sends servants to receive its fruit. But the tenants reject them.

Finally, the owner sends his son, thinking:

"They will respect my son."

But they reject the son too.

Jesus is speaking about himself.

He is the Son who is sent into the vineyard and rejected.

But being rejected does not mean that he has no value.

Quite the opposite.

Jesus tells us that the stone rejected by the builders becomes the cornerstone.

6. What Has Been Entrusted to Us?

And that word entrusted is important.

The tenants have been entrusted with the vineyard. They don't own it absolutely.

And so many things in our lives have been entrusted to us.

Our possessions have been entrusted to us.

Our abilities and talents have been entrusted to us.

Our time has been entrusted to us.

Our families have been entrusted to us.

Our children have been entrusted to us.

Life itself has been entrusted to us.

We receive these things as gifts from God, and we are called to cultivate them and bear fruit with them.

7. What Fruit Are We Producing?

And so the Gospel leaves us with another question:

What fruit are we producing with what God has entrusted to us?

Can a frightened mother find somebody willing to stand beside her?

Can parents struggling to care for a child find support?

Can someone who is elderly or sick know that his or her life still matters?

Can someone carrying sorrow from the past discover that God's mercy is greater than that past?

We will not always produce the fruit perfectly.

We fail.

We sin.

We make mistakes.

But God's mercy is greater than our failures.

And God continually gives us the grace to begin again.

8. Christ the Cornerstone

So we return to the question with which we began:

When did your life begin?

Our physical life has a beginning.

But throughout our lives, God continually calls us to new beginnings.

Life is God's gift.

Life is entrusted to us.

And when we fail to care for that gift as faithfully as God calls us to, we can turn back to him.

Because our failures are not the cornerstone.

Christ is.

Even when we fail, Christ remains.

Even when we wander, Christ calls us back.

Even when we need to begin again, Christ continues to build us up.

"The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes."

Vineyard (2026-09-27, Sunday 26th)

[ver_02]   26^th Sunday _Year A __ September 27, 2026  ● Ezekiel 18:25-28 ●  Psalm ● Philippians 2:1-11 ● Matthew 21:28-32  ●  

1. SAY AND DO — What Did They Actually Do?

It is significant to notice whom Jesus is addressing in today’s Gospel. He is speaking to the chief priests and elders—the people who are supposed to know the Law and the Prophets very well. They are the religious and legal experts.

So Jesus gives them what we might call a case study.

A man has two sons. He tells both of them to go out and work in the vineyard. The first says, “I will not,” but later changes his mind and goes. The second gives the right answer—“Yes, sir”—but then does not go.

Jesus asks: “Which of the two did his father’s will?”

The answer is obvious: the one who actually went.

Jesus is reminding these religious leaders—and you and me—that it is not enough simply to know the right answer or say the right thing. Our faith also has to become visible in what we do.

There is an old question about Christian discipleship: If you were picked up and arrested for being a Catholic, would there be enough evidence to hold and convict you?

I have to ask myself: If I’m ever picked up and arrested for being a Catholic priest, would there be enough evidence to hold and convict me?

You might say, “Padre, you would go to jail forever. You wear vestments. You live in a rectory. Your name is on the bulletin.”

But is that enough?

Beyond what I wear, where I live, and what I am called, is there evidence in the way I actually live?

2. SUNDAY AND GIFT — More Than an Hour

One place all of us can ask that question is Sunday.

Yes, you and I have an obligation as Catholics to attend Sunday Mass. But does our obligation to God end after the forty-five minutes or hour we spend at Mass?

Sunday is more than an hour.

Sunday is the Lord’s Day, the day of the Resurrection. It is a day for God, for rest, for family, for love of neighbor. Mass is at the heart of Sunday, but the sacredness of Sunday does not end when we walk out the church door.

And I especially want our children and young people to understand that.

Boys and girls, when your parents bring you to church on Sunday, they are not simply imposing another rule on you. They are giving you a gift.

They are giving you time to know that God loves you. They are giving you time to pray and worship with your family. They are reminding you that you belong to a family and to a community of faith.

And for all of us, it is never too early and never too late to begin again with Sunday Mass.

Sunday is a gift of time.

The question is: What do we do with that gift?

3. PRIORITY AND INTENTION — What Sets the Tone?

This came home to me one Christmas Day several years ago. Christmas happened to fall on a Sunday, and there was plenty of NFL football on television.

My family was together. The television was on. The games were on. We wanted to see the touchdowns, the quarterbacks, who was winning and who was losing.

Eventually Christmas dinner was served, and we tried to say grace together.

Some people participated. Some people didn't. We were out of sync. And afterward there was some dissatisfaction: We couldn't even say grace together properly on Christmas Day.

But I thought about it later.

Did the problem really begin at the dinner table? Or had it begun hours earlier—or perhaps years earlier—with the way we thought about Sunday and Christmas Day?

I am not saying you cannot watch football on Sunday. I am not saying you cannot watch the Knicks, play golf, watch a movie, go out to dinner, or enjoy yourself.

The question is: What gets the priority? What sets the tone for the day?

I can remember when youth sports were beginning to be played on Sundays in my hometown. Even then, the games tended to begin later in the afternoon. Sunday morning was still treated differently.

And some of us are old enough to remember another Sunday tradition: you called your mother or your parents on Sunday.

Why Sunday?

One practical reason was that long-distance telephone rates were cheaper on Sundays. Today, with unlimited calling, that probably sounds strange.

But there is something interesting about it. Certain things used to be built into our schedules, our communities, even our economy, that helped make Sunday different.

Many of those things are gone.

So today, perhaps we have to be more intentional.

We have to make choices about preserving time for God, for rest, for family, and for people who may need our attention.

4. VINEYARD AND TODAY — The Time God Gives Us

And that brings us back to the vineyard.

The vineyard in today's Gospel is not just a place.

The vineyard is also a time.

And this church, this Mass, this Sunday, is part of the vineyard.

The first son initially said no. But then he changed his mind.

That is one of the most hopeful parts of the Gospel.

Maybe Mass has fallen away for someone. Maybe Sunday has gradually become just another day. Maybe schedules, sports, work, phones, television, or a hundred other things have crowded out time for God and one another.

The Gospel does not say that because we once said no, the story is over.

We can change our minds. We can begin again.

It is never too late and never too early to begin again with Sunday, with Mass, with our families, and with God.

And the vineyard extends beyond Sunday. It is the time God gives us and the people God places before us: our spouses, our children, our parents as they grow older, our relatives and friends, someone who is sick or alone, someone who needs our time.

Jesus asks the chief priests and elders which son did the Father's will.

Not which one knew the correct answer.

Not which one made the better promise.

Which one actually went?

That is the invitation to you and me—not only by what we say and believe, but by the choices we make with the time God has given us.

The Father still says to each one of us:

“You, go out and work in my vineyard today.”

Early. Late (2026-09-20, Sunday 25th)

[ver_07]   25^th Sunday _Year A September 20, 2026

  ● Isaiah 55:6-9 ● Psalm 145 ● Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a ● Matthew 20:1-16 ●  

— SINGING TOGETHER

Before I begin the homily, I want to ask something of all of us.

The Church calls us to full and active participation in the Mass, and one of the ways we participate is by singing. Singing isn't simply something the choir or our cantor does for us while we listen. They have their role: they lead us. But we have a role too.

As Saint Augustine said, “Singing is for one who loves.”

So please pick up the hymnal and join in. If you're not accustomed to singing, begin with a part of the Mass or a hymn that seems familiar to you. Even picking up the hymnal sets an example of prayer.

Together, we sing the praises of God.

And that word “together” is important in today's Gospel.

1. CROSSWALK — PAY ATTENTION

A few hours ago, I was standing outside the church, about to cross the street. It was sunny and hot, and a young person walked up to me and simply said:

“Stay hydrated.”

It was a small kindness, but it caught my attention.

Sometimes we need somebody to interrupt us with a simple reminder that helps us.

And God continues to do that in our lives.

In today's Gospel, the landowner keeps going out looking for workers—early in the morning, at nine, at noon, at three, and finally at the eleventh hour.

God keeps going out.

God keeps calling.

2. CONTINUOUS CALLING — NEVER TOO EARLY, NEVER TOO LATE

That means it is never too late to hear God's Word.

It is never too late to come back to church.

It is never too late to invite someone else to come back.

And if you're a parent with children, it is never too early to bring them to church.

We want your children here.

We recognize that children are not always going to be perfectly still or perfectly silent. That's okay. They are learning that this is their church too. They are experiencing prayer, worship, and community.

Some of us have practiced the faith for many years.

Some may only be discovering the faith.

Some may be beginning again after being away.

The landowner keeps going out because God's invitation continues.

3. COMMUNITY — ONE VINEYARD

But notice something else.

The landowner calls each worker individually, but he doesn't give each worker a separate vineyard.

He calls them into one vineyard.

God calls you individually. God calls me individually. But God also calls us to work together.

We are seeing that here in our own parish as we prepare to welcome the relics of Saint Bernadette on October 7.

I've been very encouraged by the response of so many people who have volunteered.

Some will welcome visitors. Some will help with practical arrangements. Some will pray. Many will simply come and participate faithfully.

We don't all have the same role.

But together we can welcome people to Our Lady of Lourdes and, through the witness of Saint Bernadette, help point people toward Christ.

The same is true in a family.

One person may provide financially. Someone else may prepare meals. Someone may care for an elderly relative. Someone may simply be the person who keeps everybody communicating.

We are called individually.

But we work in the vineyard together.

4. CONTRIBUTION — GIVE SOMEONE A PLACE TO BEGIN

Sometimes we need somebody to show us where we can begin.

That's an important detail in today's Gospel.

The landowner asks the workers, “Why do you stand here idle all day?”

They answer:

“Because no one has hired us.”

The Gospel doesn't tell us that they refused to work. It doesn't tell us that they were lazy.

No one had given them the opportunity.

That reminds me of something from my own life.

When I was in college, I tried out for the soccer team. I had played soccer in high school, and I thought maybe I could make the team.

I didn't.

I got cut.

But I still wanted to participate in sports, so I became a sports writer for the college newspaper. Eventually I covered the men's basketball team.

Their coach was a very serious man. One day he took some time with me and taught me how to interview someone after a game—how to listen, how to ask better questions, how to communicate.

I wasn't one of his players.

I wasn't even on his team.

I was on the periphery.

But what he taught me has stayed with me all these years.

One opportunity had closed. But someone showed me another place where I could begin.

And we can do that for one another.

We can make the phone call.

We can invite somebody to church.

We can tell someone about confession.

We can invite someone to help.

Sometimes somebody who appears uninterested may simply not know where to begin.

The landowner doesn't stand in the vineyard complaining that nobody is helping him.

He goes out and invites them in.

5. CONTRITION — BEGIN AGAIN

And perhaps one of the most important places where we discover that it is never too late to begin again is in confession.

Maybe it has been a few weeks.

Maybe a few months.

Maybe many years.

We come back. We acknowledge our sins. We ask God's forgiveness. And, through God's grace, we begin again.

But God's mercy doesn't mean that nothing is expected of us.

The workers who were hired at the eleventh hour still went into the vineyard and worked.

The early worker is not excused from humility.

The late worker is not excused from fidelity.

Whenever God's call comes, it asks for a response.

It asks for fidelity.

It asks for virtue.

It asks us to love and serve one another.

And God keeps going out.

Sometimes He calls us through Scripture. Sometimes through prayer. Sometimes through another person. Sometimes even through a simple reminder we weren't expecting.

The invitation remains.

It is never too early, and it is never too late, to hear God's call, to receive His mercy, to enter His vineyard—and to begin again.

Mercy. 77. (2026-09-13, Sunday 24th)

[ver_05]   24^th Sunday _Year A  - September 13, 2026  - Sirach 27:30-28:7 -- Psalm 103:1-103:2, 103:3-103:4, 103:9-103:10, 103:11-103:12  -- Romans 14:7-14:9, Matthew 18:21-18:35

 

1. Peter Is Counting

In today's Gospel, Jesus says:

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.”

You and I are those servants.

But sometimes we have questions about what is being counted—about what we owe and what somebody else owes us.

Peter has a question about counting:

“Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?”

Peter probably thinks he is being generous.

Once? Twice? Three times?

Peter is willing to go as high as seven.

But Jesus says:

“I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

Jesus is not simply giving Peter a larger number. He is telling Peter not to put a numerical limit on forgiveness.

Stop counting.

2. The Three R's of Mercy

And this reminds us of God's forgiveness of us.

We cannot exhaust God's mercy. His mercy is readily available whenever we sincerely turn back to him.

Perhaps we can remember this with three R's:

Readily Available. Repentance. Reconciliation.

First, God's mercy is Readily Available. We never have to conclude that we have used up our opportunities to return to God.

Second, our response involves Repentance. We acknowledge our sins, sincerely turn back to God, and ask for his forgiveness.

And third is Reconciliation. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God forgives us and restores our relationship with him.

So seventy-seven is not simply a larger quota.

God's mercy is not exhausted by our arithmetic. We receive that mercy—and then we are called, with God's grace, to extend mercy to others.

3. Servant A and Servant B

And then Jesus tells a story about money. But the message is about much more than “show me the money.”

There are two servants and two debts.

Servant A owes the king an enormous amount—far beyond anything he can possibly repay.

He begs the king:

“Be patient with me.”

But the king does something extraordinary.

He forgives the entire debt.

Then Servant A goes out and meets Servant B.

Servant B owes Servant A a much smaller amount.

But Servant A—the man who has just had his enormous debt forgiven—refuses to forgive the much smaller debt owed to him.

He has received mercy.

But he is still counting what somebody else owes him.

4. Debt Follows Us Around

We can understand why Jesus uses debt as such a powerful image.

Some translations of the Our Father say:

“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

And actual financial debt can affect our whole lives.

Debt can follow you around. It can follow me around. It can follow us around.

It can keep us awake at night. It can affect our concentration, our conversations and our relationships.

Imagine owing something that you simply cannot repay—and then hearing:

Your debt is forgiven.

The debt we cannot repay becomes an image of how completely we depend upon God's mercy.

And yet, after receiving mercy, we can still start counting what somebody else owes us.

What did that person say?

What didn't that person say?

What did that person do?

What didn't that person do?

I've done this. Perhaps you have too.

We keep count.

And Jesus says:

Stop counting.

5. Forgiveness Is Not Always Reconciliation

But it is important to recognize what forgiveness does—and does not—mean.

Forgiveness does not mean calling something evil good.

It does not mean pretending that nothing happened.

It does not mean approving something that was truly wrong.

And forgiveness is not always the same thing as reconciliation between two people.

We may forgive someone even when restoring the relationship is not within our power.

The person may live far away.

The person may have died.

Or in some circumstances, restoring the relationship may not be safe or wise. Appropriate boundaries may need to remain.

Reconciliation between people is a good thing when genuine reconciliation is possible.

But reconciliation may not always be within our power.

With God's grace, forgiveness is still possible.

We refuse to allow anger, resentment or vengeance to corrupt our hearts.

6. The Bag

Some years ago, I heard a real-life story told by a flight attendant who loved her work but also understood its pressures and responsibilities.

Those pressures became especially intense after September 11, 2001.

People were anxious about flying. People felt unsafe. And flight attendants carried an enormous responsibility for the safety of everyone aboard.

A few weeks after September 11, she was working a flight from New York to California.

A man boarded carrying a large trash bag.

He put it carefully into the overhead compartment.

And then he watched it very closely.

He guarded it.

Naturally, in those anxious weeks after September 11, she became suspicious.

Eventually, during the flight, she approached him and began a conversation.

She asked:

“What brought you to New York? Business or pleasure?”

He answered:

“Neither. I came because of my son.”

His son had been a New York City firefighter who died at the World Trade Center on September 11.

His son's body had never been recovered.

But some of his firefighter uniform and gear had been recovered from the rubble of the collapsed towers.

That was what the father was carrying home in the bag.

“It's all I have left of him.”

And suddenly she no longer saw merely a suspicious passenger.

She saw a grieving father.

7. What Someone Else Is Carrying

Now, this father had done nothing wrong. He had not trespassed against the flight attendant.

So this is not exactly a story about forgiveness.

But it reminds us of something important:

We do not always know what another person is carrying.

We see what somebody did.

We hear what somebody said.

We remember what somebody failed to do.

But we do not always know the whole story.

And that can matter when we begin counting what another person owes us.

It does not make an injustice just.

It does not make something wrong right.

But it can help us look at another person with greater mercy.

There may be many people you or I are called to forgive.

Or perhaps there is just one person.

We do not always know everything that person is carrying.

But we do know the mercy that God has shown to us.

8. You and I Are Those Servants

Peter asks Jesus:

“How many times must I forgive? As many as seven times?”

Jesus says:

“I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

Not simply a higher number.

Stop counting.

Remember the mercy you have received.

God's mercy is readily available.

We turn to him in repentance.

And in Reconciliation, our relationship with him is restored.

Then, with God's grace, we become people of mercy toward others.

This is why Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.” You and I are those servants.