Fr. John Ryan

 

SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

18th February 2007

In today's Gospel we see Christ push the boundaries. The Christian life as advocated by Jesus himself goes beyond what is considered normal responses to difficult situations. Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who treat you badly, and so on. Jesus lifts the level of expectation. After all, he says, it is easy to do good to those who do good to us - to be truly loving people we need to be able to reach beyond the comfort zones and delve into the trying areas.
Can it be done? Jesus, on the cross, shows us that it can. He asks the Father to forgive those who have put him on the cross - 'Father, forgive them, they know not what they do'. This unconditional forgiveness is echoed in the last words of St. Stephen who calls on God to forgive those who are about to stone him to death. It is the ultimate expression of what Jesus teaches his disciples.
Together with the call to total love and complete forgiveness we are also called to be compassionate, non-judgemental, non-condemnatory. It is a Gospel of complete openness to the other where we must be constantly focusing on the fact that every individual has a positive side and while we may encounter their negative attributes we must recognise that we too have our negative side and thus should be able to understand the imperfections of others. Judge not and you shall not be judged - it is a very plain statement but contains so much. We all have our faults and our self-awareness should allow us to recognise those faults and so be slow to focus on the faults of others. In order for true and complete healing to take place then we have to forgive - without it there is still a rift, a break, a wound and we cannot be made whole and healed.
All of us are in need of forgiveness in our lives. All of us encounter situations where we need to be forgiven and in those times we should be thankful for the forgiveness received and so encouraged to be ready to forgive others who may do injury to us. Is it easy? No - but most things worthwhile require energy and effort to put into practice. The key is a healthy relationship with Jesus - a relationship whereby we are able to see how Jesus has brought forgiveness to us and reconciled us with the Father. He has brought that forgiveness to all people - the ones we like and the ones we may not particularly like at all - and sharing in that reconciliation we should be inspired to disperse the Lord's forgiveness through our own actions and words. In the Our Father we pray the words 'Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us'. If those words are to ring true, if our praying of the Lord's Prayer is to be genuine, then today's Gospel must be accepted by us as a guide to a life of reconciliation, forgiveness, bridge-building and pure compassion. It is a guide. In fact, it is a challenge but a worthy one and a rewarding one. Personally it builds up our sense of divine justice and collectively it can lead to a world where true community takes hold, the dignity of all is respected and the vulnerable are empowered through development of self-esteem and respect.