Father Gervan Menezes - Sept 13

St. Philip Catholic Church: Peter approaches Jesus with what he believes is a very generous proposal. Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times? In the Jewish tradition, forgiving someone three times was often considered sufficient. Peter doubles that number and adds one more. Probably Jesus looked at him and said, Bless his heart. He probably expects Jesus to congratulate him, saying, Peter, you are becoming so holy. But Jesus answered, Not seven times, but seventy seven times. Jesus is not giving Peter a larger number to count. He is telling him to stop counting altogether. Christian forgiveness cannot be reduced to a calculation. Hey, watch out. I forgave you six times. You only have one more to go. The disciples The disciple of Jesus must forgive without keeping score because God does not keep score on us. Jesus explained this through the parable of the two dead. Servant owns his king a enormous amount, more than he could repay in several lifetimes. When the servant begs for patience, the king does not does something extraordinary. He does not merely extend the deadline, but he canceled the entire debt. But then the same servant encounters the fellow servant who owns him a much smaller amount. He grabs him, begins to choke him, and demands payment. The treasury is not simply that he is cruel. The treasury is that he has received mercy without allowing mercy. To change his heart. He walked out of the king's presence debt free, but he did not walk out transformed. That is the warning for every one of us. It is possible to come to Mass, confess our sins, receive absolution, hear the words of the body of Christ, and still leave the church holding someone else by the truth. Not necessarily. With your hands, but in your heart. We hold people by their throat when we constantly replay what they did to us. We hold them up by the throat when we punish them with silence, damage their reputation, or refuse ever opportunity for peace, or secretly hope that they will suffer. We may no longer speak to them. But they continue living rent free in our minds and our heart. The person who hurts us becomes the center of our thoughts and begins to control our peace. Sirach give us a challenging question. How can someone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the Lord? Notice that word. Nourish. Anger May enter the heart because we have truly been wound, but resentment remains because we continue to feed it with memories, conversations, accusations, and repeatedly relenting of the injury. There is an important difference between being hurt and choosing to cultivate hatred. The wound may not be our fault. But bring that wound to Christ is our responsibility. Forgiveness does not mean pretending nothing happened. It does not mean calling evil good, ignoring injustice, or remain in an abusive or dangerous situation. Forgiveness does not eliminate appropriate boundaries or consequences. Reconciliation requires repentance and rebuild trust. Forgiveness can begin even when the other person has not apologized. Forgiveness means surrendering to God the right to revenge. It means saying, Lord, what happened was wrong, and it hurt me deeply. But I will not allow that womb to become my identity. I place this person and the justice I desire into your hands. Sometimes forgiveness is a decision that must be renewed every day. We may forgive sincerely today and feel the pain come back again tomorrow. That doesn't mean our forgiveness was false. It means that the wound is you healing. When the memory of re when the memory returns, we can pray again. Jesus, I already give you this. I already give this to you. And today I give it to you. One more time. Why must we Christians forgive? Because not because the offence was small, but because the mercy we have received is much bigger. Every time we look at the crucifix, and we can see the measure of our death and the true price of our forgiveness. Jesus did not forgive us cheaply. He carried our sins in his body, he entered into death so that our debt could be canceled. From the cross, surrounded by those who mocked. Tortured and crucified him, he prayed. Father, forgive them. We forgive because we have first be forgiven. St. Paul tells us today, none of our lives for none of us lie lives for ourselves, for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. We belong to the Lord, therefore even our wombs belong to him. Our history belongs to him, our anger, disappointment, desire for justice must be placed under his lordship. We cannot say Jesus is the Lord of my life except for this womb. This one belongs to me, and I will hold it. If Christ is Lord, he must also be Lord of our memories. Perhaps perhaps today there is someone whose name immediately comes to your mind. A parent, a spouse, a sibling, a friend, a co worker, a parishioner, or even someone in church. Perhaps the wound is recent. Perhaps it has been carried for decades. The Lord is not asking you us to deny the pain. He is asking us to stop hugging the anger tight and to open our hands before him. We can begin with a simple prayer. Lord Jesus, I am not yet able to feel forgiveness, but I choose to desire it. Give me the grace to forgive us. You have forgiven me. That prayer is already a beginning. Grace can work with a willing heart. In a few moments, we'll pray the words of Jesus Christ that He has taught us. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. We should never pray those words casually. We are asking God to make His mercy towards us visible through. our mercy towards others. And then we will approach the altar. We will receive the body and blood of the one who canceled our unpayable debt. He came not because we are perfect, but because we need his mercy. The Eucharist give us the strength to become what we receive the body of Christ. A people reconciled to God and sent into the world as instruments of reconciliation. Our parish mission is to know, love, and serve God and our neighbor. We cannot fulfill that mission while hunging hugging tight to angry that separate us. If we want unity in our families, healing in our parishes, and peace. In a word, that work must begin within the human heart. Just a parenthesis, I love that people are coughing and we don't even have incense today. Stop praying for not having enough altar service too. Okay, and we come back. Today Jesus is not asking us to pretend that our wombs do not matter. He is asking us to stop allowing those wombs to become our masters. He is inviting us to remember the enormous debt that God has forgiven and to extend their mercy to one another. The Lord is kind and merciful. Slow to anger and rich in compassion. May the mercy we receive at this altar become the mercy we carry out into our homes, our relationships, and our community. And may no one leave this church hugging anger more tightly than they embrace the grace of God. Brothers and sisters, forgiving people must become forgiving people. Mercy received must become mercy given. Today, let us place before the Lord that person, that memory, and that womb that we have been holding true tightly. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and reach in compassion. May the mercy that flows from his heart enter us, heal heal. what has been wounded and teach us to forgive, not merely seven times, but from the heart without keeping count.