Homily for October 6th, 2017: Baruch 1:15-22; Luke
10:13-16.
"Justice is with the Lord, our God,”
we heard in our first reading, “and we today are flushed with shame. … We have
sinned in the Lord’s sight and disobeyed him.” And in the gospel we heard Jesus
speaking about communities which had suffered for failing to be flushed with
shame for their disobedience to the Lord God: Chorazin, Bethsaida ,
Tyre , and Sidon
We have a name for people like
that. We call them “complacent.” That is a quality which affects just about all
of us: some occasionally, others most of the time, or even habitually. It is no
accident that Jesus included repentance in the one prayer he gave us, as a
model for all prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass
against us.”
Repentance, not just occasionally,
but daily, is the key, God’s word is telling us through these two readings, to
a right relationship with God. Even the greatest saints were conscious that
when they came before God in prayer, the first thing they needed to do was to
repent. None of the saints ever pointed to their good conduct record when they
stood before God in prayer. They knew that any good they had done was possible
only because of the inspiration and help they received from the Lord God.
Part of the daily repentance that all
of us need is willingness to forgive those who have wronged or hurt us.
“Forgive us our trespasses,” Jesus teaches us to pray, “as we forgive those who
trespass against us.” The late Archbishop Fulton Sheen encouraged his hearers
to forgive others by telling them:
“If, during life, we forgive others from
our hearts, on Judgment Day the all-wise God will permit something very unusual
to Himself: He will forget how to add and will know only how to subtract. He who
has a memory from all eternity will no longer remember our sins” (Victory over Vice, 14).
And so we pray, once again: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we
forgive those who trespass against us.” Amen.
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