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Seek Peace In Christ’s Merciful Love and Forgiveness

24^th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year A

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. In this passage from today’s Gospel, Jesus makes it clear that there is no limit to giving and receiving forgiveness.

Since the spring, we have seen a huge surge of violence in our country. We see people responding to evil not with forgiveness, but with evil. And what has been the consequence? A proliferation of evil, death, division, hatred, destruction, and violence. As Ghandi once said “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind.” Sadly, as we see violence increasing on the streets of our country, we witness an increasing corresponding blindness to the fact that we are all brothers and sisters with inestimable dignity as children of God.

During His life on the earth, Jesus could have had many opportunities to bring about change by inciting people to be violent. Instead of healing and encouraging forgiveness, Jesus could have overcome the powers that be with His power and might—not just as a man, but as God. Instead, what He chose to do was to heal, to show mercy to those who hated Him, and to be an example of what it means to truly bring peace.

In our current day, Jesus’ mercy is still the answer to our problems. In His mercy we can find our rescue from the chaos. When our lives are chaotic, when our country seems to be falling apart, when our families are divided, when we are helpless and do not know what to do, when we suffer and are confused, Jesus invites us to ask for His Merciful Love. He invites us to seek His forgiveness and to show mercy to those who hurt us. For when we are forgiven, we experience peace. And when we forgive, we bring peace into the lives of others.

We draw closer to Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Who wants to create in us new hearts that will not be disturbed by chaos—hearts that will find peace and security in God’s merciful Love. On this Sunday morning I would like to invite you to pray for those who seek to repay evil with evil, that they may experience God’s forgiveness and have a change of heart. We pray, too, for ourselves and the members of the Church and our families, that our own hearts may become ever more open to God’s mercy and love. For, my brothers and sisters, only the forgiveness and love that come through Christ can truly change the world for the better.

Yours in Christ,
Father Arthur

Readings for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Lectionary 130