+ It is obvious that the Father’s most favorite word is forgiveness. Forgiveness
is what the Incarnation of his Son is all about: Jesus came to earth to be our forgiveness, our reconciliation
with the Father – this was necessary for salvation! And so in the prayer that
Jesus taught us in the gospel passage today: a key phrase is: and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive
those who trespass against us! And at the end of the prayer, St. Matthew
reiterates the punch-line of the prayer:
if you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your
transgressions.
In the first reading we see
the dynamic of “God-speak!” What he speaks cannot not be done – after all he is
God! And so he says through the prophet Isaiah, my word (my will) shall not return to me void, but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it! This is where men and women and
children waste a lot of time and energy, and experience untold frustration and
aggravation. Only God’s will counts!
Our will must freely and lovingly correspond with his for everything to work
out the way it is supposed to: why? because God sees the entire picture from a
distance: we can only see the tiny little dots of paint that are present in the
portrait of our life this day that are right in front of our noses. Perhaps,
trusting God’s all-encompassing view and his inspirations will get us a lot
farther in our quest for true love and happiness – after all he is the Divine
Artist!
And so today, let us look to God and his will (for
forgiveness to be an integral part of our lives) so that we may be radiant with
joy and our faces may not blush with shame! Amen.
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