September 13, 2026
Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 130
Reading 1
Wrath and anger are hateful things,
yet the sinner hugs them tight.
The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance,
for he remembers their sins in detail.
Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;
then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
Could anyone nourish anger against another
and expect healing from the LORD?
Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself,
can he seek pardon for his own sins?
If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath,
who will forgive his sins?
Remember your last days, set enmity aside;
remember death and decay, and cease from sin!
Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor;
remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults.
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm
103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger,
and rich in compassion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in
compassion.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in
compassion.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in
compassion.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in
compassion.
Reading 2
Brothers and sisters:
None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.
For if we live, we live for the Lord,
and if we die, we die for the Lord;
so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.
For this is why Christ died and came to life,
that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Alleluia
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment, says the Lord:
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
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 the fellow servant 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.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/091326.cfm
Commentary on
Ecclesiasticus 27:33—28:9; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35
Last Sunday’s Gospel, from the same chapter as today’s, was
about fraternal correction and about the possible necessity to expel a member
from the Christian community. We are talking about someone who persists in
behaving in a way which is totally at variance with the values of a community
whose life vision is based on the gospel. Such expulsion may be necessary, if
the community is to be a credible witness to the gospel and to be seen as the
visible Body of Christ. But such an expulsion need not be permanent, and in
fact, it is hoped that it will not be. At the first sign of repentance, the
offender is to be welcomed back and helped to re-integrate into the community.
So, today’s Gospel is about forgiveness. Peter, who is
beginning to learn his Master’s ways, asks how many times he should forgive—as
many as seven times? It sounds pretty generous. But it is not generous enough
for Jesus who says:
Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
In other words, one should forgive indefinitely.
A story of two servants
And, to make his point, Jesus goes on to speak of a king and his two servants
who owe very differing sums of money. One owes a huge amount to the king and,
by rights, should be thrown into a debtor’s prison until he has paid off his
debt—something he was unlikely to be able to do. After passionate entreaties,
his debt is wiped out by the king. After leaving the king, the same servant
goes after a fellow-servant who owes him what is relatively a paltry sum.
Because this second servant cannot pay up at once, he is thrown into the
debtor’s prison. When the king hears about it he throws the first servant to
the torturers until he has paid off the debt. The message is perfectly clear:
So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you,
if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.
God forgives us without limit. If we are to be like him—and
that is our calling in life—we must do the same. And it is not just a piece of
advice. Our very salvation depends on it.
Vengeance is mine
What Jesus is condemning is made clear in today’s First Reading from the Book
of Ecclesiasticus:
Anger and wrath, these also are abominations, yet a
sinner holds on to them. The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance. Forgive
your neighbor the wrong he has done and then your sins will be pardoned when
you pray.
And note that the writer says that when we forgive a brother
or sister, it is my sin, not their sin which
is forgiven by God.
Does anyone harbor anger against another and expect
healing from the Lord? If people have no mercy toward those like themselves,
can they then seek pardon for their own sins? If mere mortals harbor wrath, who
will make an atoning sacrifice for their sins? Remember the end of your life
and set enmity aside; remember corruption and death and be true to the
commandments. Remember the commandments and do not be angry with your neighbor;
remember the covenant of the Most High and overlook faults.
How to forgive
If hate and resentment get us nowhere, what are we to say about forgiveness? Is
it just a matter of turning a blind eye to what people do to us or to others?
Are we to say, “Oh, never mind! Forget about it!” Can we turn a blind eye to
murder, violence, physical abuse, gross dishonesty and corruption, sexual abuse
and infidelity? That’s not acceptable according to last Sunday’s Gospel, which
said that if a person remains unrepentant of the harm he/she has done, then:
…let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax
collector.
(Matt 18:17)
In the Gospels, forgiveness is also always accompanied by an
attempt at reconciliation and personal healing. It also includes unconditional
love (Greek, agape), the love of our God who makes his sun and rain
to fall on good and bad alike. Forgiveness in the Gospels, as with God, must
include not just overlooking the wrong done, but an attempt to bring back the
wrongdoer. The parables of the good shepherd and his lost sheep, the woman and
her lost coin, the loving father and his prodigal son tell us how God acts—and
how we, too, should act.
It is important to note at this point that our faith is not
simply a question of good and bad actions, but of relationships. Forgiveness is
not about undoing evil actions (“What is done is done and cannot be undone.”),
but of restoring broken relationships, about healing and reconciliation.
A sacrament for reconciliation
So we speak now, not of the ‘Sacrament of Confession’ or the ‘Sacrament of
Penance’, but of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This sacrament is not, as
many seem to believe, a sacrament of wiping out our past acts as if they no
longer existed. Rather, it is a matter of turning back to, of restoring our
relationship with God and also with all those who have been touched (and may
still be hurting) from our sins, our failures to love.
And just as we expect God to accept us back into his loving
arms again and again without limit, so he expects us to be ready to do the same
for others. Of course, it can be a long process. Like God, like the father in
the parable, we often have to wait patiently, lovingly, hopefully for the
turning point of someone who has hurt us.
As the Gospel earlier this week reminded us, those who have
hurt us, our “enemies”, most need our prayers, they need God’s blessings to
soften their hearts. And when it happens, we need to be ready to receive back
our brother or sister just we expect God to receive us back when we say ‘Sorry’
to him.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/oa241/
Sunday,
September 13, 2020
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures
with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In
the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the
presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the
cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life
and of resurrection. Create silence in us so that we may listen to Your voice in
Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor
and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples on
the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to
others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and
peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us
and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.
Gospel Reading – Matthew 18: 21-35
A Division of the Text to Help with the
Reading:
•
Matthew 18: 21: Peter’s question
•
Matthew 18: 22: Jesus’ reply
•
Matthew 18: 23-26: 1st part of the parable
•
Matthew 18: 27-30: 2nd part of the parable • Matthew
18: 31-35: 3rd part of the parable A Key
to the Reading:
In the Gospel of the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Jesus tells us of the need to
forgive our brothers and sisters. It is not easy to forgive. There are some
offences and insults that go on hurting us. Some say, “I forgive, but I do not
forget.” I cannot forget! Resentment, tensions, different opinions,
provocations make it difficult to forgive and be reconciled. Why is forgiving
so difficult? Do I create a space in my family, my community, my work and my
relationships for reconciliation and forgiveness? How? Let us meditate on the
third part of the “Sermon on the Community” (Mt 18:21-35), where Matthew puts
together the sayings and parables of Jesus on limitless forgiveness. As you
read, think of yourself and try to look back on your life. The Text:
21 Then Peter went up to Him and
said, 'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as
seven times?' 22 Jesus answered, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven
times. 23 'And so the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who decided
to settle his accounts with his servants. 24 When the reckoning began, they
brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; 25 he had no means of paying,
so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and
children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. 26 At this, the servant
threw himself down at his master's feet, with the words, "Be patient with
me and I will pay the whole sum."
27 And the servant's master felt so sorry for him that he let
him go and cancelled the debt. 28 Now as this servant went out, he happened to
meet a fellow-servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by
the throat and began to throttle him, saying, "Pay what you owe me."
29 His fellow-servant fell at his feet and appealed to him, saying, "Be
patient with me and I will pay you." 30 But the other would not agree; on
the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 His
fellow-servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and
they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. 32 Then the
master sent for the man and said to him, "You wicked servant, I cancelled
all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. 33 Were you not bound, then, to
have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?" 34 And in his
anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his
debt. 35 And that is how My heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each
forgive your brother from your heart.'
A Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten
our life
Some Questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
•
Which part of the parable struck you most? Why?
•
What counsels does Jesus give us to help us
reconcile and forgive?
•
Looking in the mirror of the parable, with which
character do I identify myself most: the king who wants to audit his servants
or with the forgiven servant who does not want to forgive his companion?
•
Looking at the present situation of our family,
our community, our church, our society and our world, is there among us a space
for forgiveness and reconciliation so that reconciliation spreads among us?
Where do we need to begin so that reconciliation may spread among us?
To Go Deeper Into the Text
The Context Within Which Our Text is Placed
in Matthew’s Gospel:
•
The comparison that Jesus uses to show the
obligation to forgive and be reconciled brings together parable and allegory.
When Jesus speaks of the King who wants to settle his accounts with his
servants, He is thinking of God who forgives all. When He speaks of the debt of
the servant forgiven by the King, He is thinking of our huge debt with God who
always forgives us. When He speaks of the attitude of the forgiven servant who
will not forgive, he is thinking of us, forgiven by God, but who will not
forgive our brothers and sisters.
•
At the end of the first century, the
Judeo-Christians of the communities of Syria and Palestine had serious and
grave problems of reconciliation with the brothers and sisters of the same
race. At the time of the great disaster of the destruction of Jerusalem by the
Romans in the 70’s, both the Synagogue and
the Ecclesia were trying to
reorganize themselves in the regions of Syria and Palestine. That is why there
was a great and growing tension between them that was the source of much
suffering within families. This tension is the background to Matthew’s Gospel. A Commentary on the Text:
•
Matthew 18: 21: Peter’s question: how many times
forgive?
On hearing Jesus’ words on reconciliation,
Peter asks: “How often must I forgive? Seven times?” Seven is a number
indicating perfection and, in the case of Peter’s proposal, seven is synonymous
with always.
•
Matthew 18: 22: Jesus’ reply: seventy times
seven!
Jesus sees further. He eliminates any possible limitation
to forgiveness: “Not seven, but seventy times seven!” There is no proportion
between the forgiveness we receive from God and our forgiving our brother and
sister. So as to make His reply to Peter clear, Jesus tells a parable. It is
the parable of limitless forgiveness!
•
Matthew 18: 23-26: The first part of the
parable: the situation of the debtor
When He speaks of the King, Jesus is thinking of God. A
servant owes the king ten thousand talents, that is, 164 tons of gold. The
servant says he will pay. But even if he worked the whole of his life, he, his
wife, his children and all his family, he would not be able to acquire 164 tons
of gold to pay back the king. In other words, we shall never be in a position
to pay back our debt with God. Impossible! (cf. Psalm 49: 8-9).
•
Matthew 18: 27-30: The second part of the
parable: The great contrast
At the servant’s insistence, the king forgives him his debt
of 164 tons of gold. A fellow servant owes him a hundred denarii, that is, 30
grams of gold. There is no comparison between the two debts! A grain of sand
and a mountain! Before God’s love that freely forgives our debt of 164 tons of
gold, it is only just that we should forgive a debt of 30 grams of gold. But
the forgiven servant would not forgive, not even at the insistence of the
debtor. He behaves towards his fellow servant the way the king should have
behaved towards him but did not: he ordered that he be thrown in jail until the
debt of 30 grams of gold was paid! The contrast speaks for itself and needs no
commentary!
•
Matthew 18: 23-35: The third part of the
parable: the moral of the story
The shameful attitude of the forgiven servant who will not
forgive strikes even his mates. They report him to the king and the king acts
accordingly: he puts into motion the procedure of justice and the forgiven
servant who in turn would not forgive, is thrown into jail, where he will stay
until his debt is paid! He should still be there today! He will never be able
to pay 164 tons of gold! The moral of the parable: “This is how My Father will
deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart!” The only
limit to the free mercy of God who always forgives us is our refusal to forgive
the brother and sister! (Mt 18: 34; 12:15; Lk 23: 34).
A Deepening: Forgiveness After ing after 11
September 2001!
On 11 September 2001, a group of terrorists flew two planes
into the two towers of
New York and
killed more than three thousand persons while shouting “Holy
War!” The immediate cry in reply
was: “Crusade.” Both sides used the name of God to legitimize violence. No one
recalled the saying: “Seventy times seven!” And one of the sides calls itself
Christian!
On the occasion of the war in
Iraq, Pope John Paul II shouted at a public audience, “War is Satanic!”, and
invited all to fight for peace. At an ecumenical meeting of representatives of
Jews and Muslims in Jerusalem in 2000, the Pope said, “We cannot call on the
name of God to legitimize violence!”
Pope Francis continued to work
for peace, taking some extraordinary steps to facilitate nations coming
together. The current pope, Leo XIV has repeatedly called for peace among all
people from the moment he first stepped out on the balcony of St. Peters,
stating “Peace be with you!” It has become the leitmotif of his pontificate. It
was the centerpiece of his first Easter message. “Let those who have weapons
lay them down! Let those who have the power
to unleash wars choose peace!”
The last sentence of the Old Testament through which the
people of God entered the New Testament and that expresses the nucleus of its
messianic hope for reconciliation, is the oracle of the prophet Malachi: “Lo, I
will send Elijah, the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and
terrible day, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the
hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with
doom” (Mal 3: 23). To turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the
hearts of children to their fathers, means to rebuild relationships between
persons. There will be no future of peace unless we make a great effort at
rebuilding human relationships in the small nucleus, that is, in the family and
in the community. The community is where families meet to preserve and pass on
the values that they hold. Indifference came into the world with the first-born
of the first union: Cain who kills Abel (Gen 4: 8). This indifference has grown
with double vengeance. Cain will be avenged sevenfold, but Lamech seventy times
sevenfold (Gen 4: 24). Peter wants to undo the error and proposes a
reconciliation of seven times (Mt 18: 21). But his proposal is weak. It does
not go to the root of violence. Jesus goes much further and demands seventy
times seven (Mt 18: 22). To this day, and especially today, reconciliation is
the most urgent task for us, followers of Jesus. It is worthwhile remembering
Jesus’ warning: “That is how My Father
will deal with you unless you each forgive the brother from your heart!” Seventy times seven!
Prayer: Psalm 62
God, Our Only Hope
In God alone there is rest for my soul, from Him comes my
safety;
He alone is my rock, my safety,
my stronghold so that I stand
unshaken. How much longer will you set on a victim, all together, intent on
murder, like a rampart already leaning over, a wall already damaged? Trickery
is their only plan, deception their only pleasure, with lies on their lips they
pronounce a blessing, with a curse in their hearts.
Rest in God alone, my soul! He is the source of my hope.
He alone is my rock, my safety,
my stronghold, so that I stand unwavering. In God is my safety and my glory,
the rock of my strength. In God is my refuge;
trust in Him, you people, at all
times. Pour out your hearts to Him, God is a refuge for us.
Ordinary people are a mere puff
of wind, important people a delusion; set both on the scales together,
and they are lighter than a puff
of wind. Put no trust in extortion, no empty hopes in robbery; however much
wealth may multiply, do not set your heart on it.
Once God has spoken, twice have I heard this: Strength
belongs to God, to You, Lord, faithful love; and You repay everyone as their
deeds deserve.
Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You for the
word that has enabled us to understand better the will of the Father. May Your
Spirit enlighten our actions and grant us the strength to practice that which
Your Word has revealed to us. May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen
to but also practice the Word, You who live and reign with the Father in the
unity of the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
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