Today, 26th of December, we celebrate
Saint Stephen
First Reading: Daniel 3:25, 34-43
We ask you to receive us with humble and contrite hearts.
Azariah stood up in the fire and prayed aloud:
“For your name’s sake, O Lord, do not deliver us up forever,
or make void your covenant.
Do not take away your mercy from us,
for the sake of Abraham, your beloved,
Isaac your servant, and Israel your holy one,
To whom you promised to multiply their offspring
like the stars of heaven,
or the sand on the shore of the sea.
For we are reduced, O Lord, beyond any other nation,
brought low everywhere in the world this day
because of our sins.
We have in our day no prince, prophet, or leader,
no burnt offering, sacrifice, oblation, or incense,
no place to offer first fruits, to find favor with you.
But with contrite heart and humble spirit
let us be received;
As though it were burnt offerings of rams and bullocks,
or thousands of fat lambs,
So let our sacrifice be in your presence today
as we follow you unreservedly;
for those who trust in you cannot be put to shame.
And now we follow you with our whole heart,
we fear you and we pray to you.
Do not let us be put to shame,
but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.
Deliver us by your wonders,
and bring glory to your name, O Lord.”
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 25:4-5ab, 6 and 7bc, 8-9
R./ Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Your ways, O Lord, make known to me;
teach me your paths,
Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my savior.
R./ Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Remember that your compassion, O Lord,
and your kindness are from of old.
In your kindness remember me,
because of your goodness, O Lord.
R./ Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Good and upright is the Lord;
thus he shows sinners the way.
He guides the humble to justice,
he teaches the humble his way.
R./ Remember your mercies, O Lord.
Gospel Reading: Matthew 18:21-35
Unless each of you forgives your brother and sister, the Father will not forgive you.
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?”
Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
‘Pay back what you owe.’
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”
We are debtors of God’s love and mercy
When someone offends us, our spontaneous reaction is not forgiveness but resentment or anger, especially when the damage has left deep wounds. Certain hurt feelings do not disappear over time; some of those wounds even last a lifetime. In such instances, the natural reaction would be to pay back, to avenge the pain that has been caused. This primitive instinct in history caused duels and endless struggles between tribes and nations. Forgiveness does not come spontaneously.
In the Lord’s prayer, we ask the Father to “forgive our debt”. The sins that we have committed do not represent all of our debts. Sins relate to the past, and they are not infinite. They are only a tiny sign of the immense distance separating us from the Father’s love. Our prayer, “Forgive us our debts”, is not just about past mistakes, but it’s directed especially to the future. We grow in debt to a person when we receive something from him, and he expects us to return it in due time.
God has bestowed on us His mercy and compassion, and he expects us to return it! What God grants us in abundance are his love and compassion. He wants us to return it or share it with our brother or sister without hesitation. He wants us not to keep the brother or sister a slave of his or her past. It is the desire of our brethren / that we do not take their breath away while they desperately try to rise up from the chasm. God asks us to help them seventy times seven without excuses. The children of the Kingdom of God are “merciful as the heavenly Father” (Lk 6:36). If we are willing to accept this new logic, we will be willing to lose, to forget all our rights to see our brother happy again, peaceful and freed.
The last scene in today’s gospel gives us shudders (vv. 31-35). The conclusion is puzzling: “So will my heavenly Father do with you unless you sincerely forgive your brothers and sisters.”
Does it mean that the Lord would repay, therefore, in the same coin, those who are ruthless with their “debtors?” Such an interpretation would contradict the whole message of the parable that wishes to present a God who always forgives human transgressions. It would be a blasphemous interpretation to consider it as a description of the behaviour of the Father, who is infinite love and mercy.
The evangelist is not describing what God would do in the end, but the parable presents what God wants you and me to do today.
Bible Claret
