Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

Readings of the Day

If you’re like me, you may try to avoid seeing yourself in Matthew’s Gospel today.  You may look at your life, your devotion to working with and for the poor and vulnerable in your community, your faith journey, your love of family and friends – all of that – and conclude that while you’re far from perfect, you’re not doing too badly in the overall scheme of things. 

But where Jesus so often removes the barriers that we erect between ourselves and God, in today’s Gospel he sets a high bar.  We are told we are to forgive our brother’s sins seventy-seven times.  I have heard it described that for the follower of Jesus, forgiveness is to become as second-nature and unrehearsed as breathing.  A high bar, indeed. 

And yet, in Deuteronomy and the Psalm today, we plead for God’s mercy.  We may go about our days with wavering levels of confidence in the assurance of God’s mercy, but Jesus takes this one step further and tells us that as we are forgiven, so we are to forgive.  It is one thing to ask for mercy, something else to offer it to others.

Whom do we find hard to forgive?  As our clients come with challenges that can make it so difficult to serve them – if not downright impossible sometimes – how much more difficult is it to forgive those close to us who have hurt us?  The parent who disappointed us, the spouse who betrayed us, the child who thwarts our authority…these hurts run deep. 

What can our clients teach us?  The woman who has fled her abuser, the child removed from his drug-using mother’s home, the man disabled after an accident caused by another’s negligence, the refugee fleeing violence…we have all met these neighbors struggling to rebuild lives.  They are often rich sources of mercy.  Without excusing the harmful behaviors or choices of others, they have often learned that forgiveness is the path forward.  For them, the practice of forgiveness is their daily devotion.

And so it is with each of us.  Whom do I need to forgive today?  May the poor and vulnerable among us, those we seek to serve in some way, show us the way to the Father’s love.

Scott Cooper is Vice President for Mission at Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington and a member of CCUSA's Parish Social Ministry Leadership Team.

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