Today is the 21st Sunday after Pentecost. The world is facing serious threat to security and peace. There are many countries all over the world engaged in violence and war, all for the sake of asserting power and dominance over the other. The world never learns that war has nothing to offer except destruction and death of so many innocent people as collateral damage. It seems that “Peace” is very much illusive. There is a never ending clamor for peace within each of us and in the world, yet our desire for peace is remote. According to St. Augustine, “Peace is the serenity of the soul, the tranquility of the mind, the simplicity of the heart, the bond of love and union of charity.” Peace is achievable, but it must begin with us, working together and realizing that the preciousness of life and time is part of God’s calling. Our understanding of peace can only be reachable if there is justice and freedom. The tangible desire of men is to pursue a life of sharing of self and material gifts given by God than being possessed by the insatiable thirst for accumulating more. Having is not holding and hoarding, but being Christ’s disciples, we must be generous in sharing what we have, which becomes a sign of spiritual maturity and true wisdom.
The Holy Church pursues this desire as we speak, listen and walk together as People of God. The second gathering sessions of the Synod on Synodality speaks to us through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We need to be conscious of what is going on in the world today that is affecting the whole mission of the Catholic Church. The Holy Father Pope Frances convenes this Synodality to hear our voices and engage in sincere dialogue as we walk together towards the future. The Holy Church is not an institution that is blinded by what’s happening in the world, but rather it has such an important task, duty and responsibility to conscientize and to discern the most logical, morally correct way to bring out significant evangelical approaches for various issues confronting the modern world.
The epistle today, from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians, taught us about a different kind of war. We are confronted with a critical spiritual warfare. It is a battle waging against the devil seriously, and we must be ready to equip ourselves in order to withstand the enemy who regularly attacks us and to stand firm in our faith so that we live in victory with Him against evil. The Church needs to mount up strategies to evangelize people about the truth of God’s word and to journey together shielded by God’s armor as His armies. St. Paul first reminds us of the need to stand and be strong against the evil one who desires to destroy and steal our soul. We need to listen to St. Paul’s admonitions about walking in a manner worthy of the gospel so that we may have the strength, power, and defenses needed to face our enemy and fight all evil forces that want to undermine the Holy Church as well. The defense and resistance are important requirements to stay with much courage and steadfastness. The command to take up the armor of God is a communal practice integrally connected with the unity of the Church and witnessing powers. We are called to live a life pleasing to the Lord and engaging in the mission of the Church. God makes it available to share His power and divine resources, such as sacraments, communal prayers and sacramentals so that we may also assault those evil spirits to advance God’s kingdom in the world. We must be grateful for all these gifts. Let us cultivate in us corresponding virtues and fully be dependent on the Lord to receive God’s enabling powers. Certainly, the devil’s temptations cannot be overcome without the divine help. We must fully surrender to God’s power and strength to defeat this enemy, Satan and his underlings.
We know the truth that through baptism we are united with God. St. Paul’s words to us simply indicate that God’s given power is not a supplemental force to overcome our enemies, but rather to invigorate the new life generated by Christ’s life and sacrifices for He is our strength. “Therefore, take up the full armor of God, that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.” (v.13)
The gospel today, taken from St. Matthew, reminds each of us of this important teaching from Jesus focusing on the parable of the unforgiving servant. We will go through this passage in three different reflection points.
First, this is a parable of Jesus that tells us about how the kingdom of God works. It gives us an idea that when we sin, we owe a debt that we cannot pay to God, but it has been paid by Jesus Christ who offered Himself as a perfect offering for our sins. In the same way, it can also be a debt that we owe others, and we must treat them fairly because we have been forgiven by God, but we simply may not want to forgive others. Forgiveness then is to release someone’s debt, whether it be God or us releasing the debt.
Second, the servant in the parable is working for the king in his royal court. Thus, he owes the king a great amount of money. The man begged and called out for mercy expressing his desire to pay off his debt. Surprisingly, the king has pity on him. It was to his advantage that he was not required to submit a promissory note as a payment plan. Instead, the king was very merciful that he wiped away the debt entirely, which meant the debt has been completely forgiven.
Third, the same servant who owed much to the king confronted his fellow servant, who owed him a. lesser amount compared to what he had owed his king. His fellow servant pleaded for patience, just as he had to the king, but he completely disregards it. The fellow servant is sent to a debtor’s prison, where he would stay until he came up with the money, or his friends or family paid up for him. The king found out what his servant did. He is rebuked by the king and his debt was reinstated and he put him back in jail.
Jesus, therefore, brings the message of the parable clearly to us that God will not forgive every one of us, if we don’t forgive anyone from our heart. We have to realize that God has forgiven us, and so we are to forgive others, according to Jesus, “from our heart,” which means not just pretending but sincerely meaning it from inside and truly releasing their debts to us. It is a clear warning that God will treat us like the king treated the servant he had previously forgiven.
If we don’t do this, God will treat us like the king treated the servant he had previously forgiven, which is a clear warning to us. In the context of the Lord’s prayer, we acknowledge that “we forgive those who trespass against us.” If someone comes to us in true repentance and asks for mercy, Jesus tells us to forgive. Don’t hold their debt over them. Don’t hold their sin against them so that you seek to punish them. Don’t hold on to bitterness and resentment. After all, often it is very difficult to forgive; however, our merciful God grants us the grace of forgiveness and love. From God, we can find love and have a heart of mercy for those who have wronged us. Jesus says, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (Lk 6:37)
The fundamental principle of the kingdom of God is our relationship with God, which is always interconnected with our relationship with others. Therefore, let’s not be like the unforgiving servant. but rather let us be merciful to others, just as we have received mercy from God.
God bless you.
Fr. Arlon, osa
