Above: Jesus entrusts his flock to St Peter, stained glass in Witney parish church, UK. Photo by Father Lawrence Lew, O.P.
Today’s Gospel (Matthew 18:21–35) is the essence of the Extraordinary Year of Mercy. We are given a model of mercy by the King, and we are called to imitate that model. In the parable, each of us is the indebted servant. We cannot pay our own debt. The servant asks the king to be patient, to give him time to pay back the debt. The king’s response is not to give the servant time but to wipe out the debt completely.
When we ask God to forgive us, He is that King who wipes out our debt. All we have to do is ask. Holy Mother Church has given us this Year of Mercy. The Holy Father has created special Missionaries of Mercy so that our sins can be forgiven. All we have to do is ask!
In the second part of the parable, it is the servant’s turn to extend mercy and he doesn’t. As a result the king hears and reverses the mercy he extended resulting in the servant being “handed over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.”
This parable was told in response to Peter’s question, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?” Maybe we should change the question to, “How many times do I want to be forgiven?” Our response, ALWAYS! Jesus is waiting for us to ask for His mercy so that He can extend it to us. When we receive it from Him, we also receive the grace to extend it to others.
As we celebrate the Year of Mercy, we also celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the approval of the Dominican Order, an Order which was founded to extend God’s mercy through preaching and the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Let us respond to the message of the Gospel and ask forgiveness of the Father in the Sacrament of Reconciliation so that we can share that mercy with others as Saint Dominic did and as his followers do today.
Saint Dominic, burning as a torch for the salvation of sinners, pray for us!
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