Mar 13 – Homily – Fr Dominic: Forgiving Our Neighbors
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Homily #120313 (
04min) Play - Fr. Dominic Murphy on the need to forgive our neighbor if we want to be forgiven our much greater offenses to Our Lord.Ave Maria!
Mass: Tuesday 3rd Week of Lent - Wkdy - Form: OF
Readings:
1st: dan 3:25, 34-43
Resp: psa 25:4-5, 6-7, 8-9
Gsp: mat 18:21-35
Audio (MP3)+++
Homily of March 05 re:loving our enemies and St. Peter’s question of how many times must I forgive….. says “the Lord does not tell us to forgive foolishly, but that we must also see signs of repentance in those we are to forgive.”
I think that makes more sense. We are always to be *ready* to forgive, and to carry that gift of forgiveness within our hearts, knowing the great debt we have been forgiven ourselves.
But then the question that these two homilies of March 5 and March 13 leaves one with might be, what does it mean to “forgive foolishly”.
I think at times there develops within the Church a false understanding of what forgiveness truly is and means. At times this false understanding or misrepresentation is used to further victimize the one who has been harmed, therefore not having to face the difficult task of offering correction to the one who has done the harm.
Surely though, the act of forgiveness is a beautiful, necessary part of our Christian lives, but as with so many gifts of beauty and grace we find and receive within the Holy Roman Catholic Church, there is a depth of understanding necessary that should go beyond the surface of things. Otherwise truth may become manipulated into something it is not, and that manipulation may cause the harming of souls, and even the loss of souls.