(Optional
Memorial of Saint Pontian, pope and martyr,
and Saint Hippolytus, priest and martyr)
 |
| “Ezekiel” (detail) by Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1510 |
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1:
Ezekiel 12:1-12
The word of the Lord came to me:
Son of man, you live in the midst of a rebellious house;
they have eyes to see but do not see,
and ears to hear but do not hear,
for they are a rebellious house.
Now, son of man, during the day while they are looking on,
prepare your baggage as though for exile,
and again while they are looking on,
migrate from where you live to another place;
perhaps they will see that they are a rebellious house.
You shall bring out your baggage like an exile in the daytime
while they are looking on;
in the evening, again while they are looking on,
you shall go out like one of those driven into exile;
while they look on, dig a hole in the wall and pass through it;
while they look on, shoulder the burden and set out in the
darkness;
cover your face that you may not see the land,
for I have made you a sign for the house of Israel.
I did as I was told.
During the day I brought out my baggage
as though it were that of an exile,
and at evening I dug a hole through the wall with my hand
and, while they looked on, set out in the darkness,
shouldering my burden.
Then, in the morning, the word of the Lord came to me:
Son of man, did not the house of Israel, that rebellious house,
ask you what you were doing?
Tell them: Thus says the Lord God:
This oracle concerns Jerusalem
and the whole house of Israel within it.
I am a sign for you:
as I have done, so shall it be done to them;
as captives they shall go into exile.
The prince who is among them shall shoulder his burden
and set out in darkness,
going through a hole he has dug out in the wall,
and covering his face lest he be seen by anyone.
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Commentary on
Ez
12:1-12
As a consequence
of their rebellion against the Law of Moses, the Prophet Ezekiel predicts the
nature of the defeat and exile of the Israelites from Jerusalem. Ezekiel is
told to reenact the exile as “a sign” of what is to come. He is told to “dig
a hole” in the wall, a symbol of the broken walls of Jerusalem, and to hide
his face, a symbol of shame or grief (see Jeremiah 14:4).
"Ezekiel's
symbolic action stands for what will happen to King Zedekiah (v. 10: cf. 2 Kings 25:2-7), who is not mentioned here by either name or title of
king. He is called 'the prince in Jerusalem,' not 'prince of Judah', to
indicate that catastrophe will befall the city and its inhabitants." [4]
-------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm:
Psalm 78:56-57, 58-59,
61-62
R. (see 7b) Do not forget the
works of the Lord!
They tempted and rebelled against God
the Most High,
and kept not his decrees.
They turned back and were faithless like
their fathers;
they recoiled like a treacherous bow.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
They angered him with their high places
and with their idols roused his
jealousy.
God heard and was enraged
and utterly rejected Israel.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
And he surrendered his strength into
captivity,
his glory in the hands of the foe.
He abandoned his people to the sword
and was enraged against his inheritance.
R. Do not forget the works of the Lord!
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Commentary on
Ps
78:56-57, 58-59, 61-62
Psalm 78 is a recital of historical events in the experience of
Israel. In these verses the psalmist once more recounts the idea that the
people had turned away from God, and in consequence received his punishment,
defeat and exile.
-------------------------------------------
Gospel:
Matthew 18:21–19:1
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 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 his brother from his heart.”
When
Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee
and
went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
-------------------------------------------
Commentary on
Mt
18:21–19:1
Jesus illustrates the requirement for Christian forgiveness with the parable of the unmerciful servant. As in many of the parables, the one who does what is wrong, in this case failing to show mercy and forgiveness even when it was shown to him, suffers a much worse fate in the final judgment.
CCC: Mt 18:21-22 982, 2227, 2845; Mt 18:23-35 2843; Mt 19:1-12 2364
-------------------------------------------
Homily:
Heavenly Father, we humbly
pray that those suffering from the coronavirus be returned quickly to full
health by the power of your Son’s healing presence, and those in fear be calmed
through the Holy Spirit.
In Christ’s name we pray.
– Amen.
How
many times have we been told: “Jesus forgave us our sins and we must forgive
those who sin against us?” Each time we
say the Lord’s Prayer that request is made: “Forgive us our trespasses”; and we
in turn make a promise, “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Perhaps it’s the word “trespass” that throws
us off. The first definition found in
most dictionaries is something like: “an unlawful act causing injury to the
person, property, or rights of another, committed with force or violence,
actual or implied.” [6] We note that here trespass means sin or
offense, rather than the common usage where we think of trespassing as meaning
simply “an encroachment or intrusion.”[7]
When
we pray we ask God to overlook our sins, to forgive them. We do so with confidence because we have come
to believe that Jesus came and offered himself as the sacrifice to God that
atones for those sins. In the Gospel,
St. Peter asks Jesus how often he must forgive: “As many as seven times?” His
question is couched in symbolic terms using the Hebrew symbol for completeness,
“7”. In response Jesus says “I say to you, not seven times but
seventy-seven times.” It is
interesting that he says 77 times and not 777 times. The implication of only using two sevens
rather than three is that we will never perfectly forgive, only God can do that
(three sevens would be ultimate perfection just as Holy, Holy, Holy is perfect
holiness and 666 is the ultimate evil).
But
rather than dwell on the interesting subject of Hebrew numerology and
symbolism, let’s ask ourselves what Jesus wants of us. While his answer was directed at St. Peter,
his instruction, followed by a parable, is clearly meant for us as well. Forgiveness can be given at different
levels. When a stranger inadvertently
bumps into us and says, “Excuse me,” we forgive that person without really
taking offense. It would be a different
story if that person stole our wallet during that bump and later returned it to
us saying, “I’m sorry I stole your wallet.”
And different still if that person did not return the wallet and we
later realized it was missing. Would we
still find it in our hearts to forgive that person, completely?
The
Lord is asking us to forgive as a parent forgives. When a child does something wrong, knowingly
“trespasses,” a parent will forgive that child with an added flavor to that
forgiveness. The parent accepts that
their child has erred, and accepts that child’s humanness, knowing that the
child will sin again, but nonetheless loving that child completely. That is forgiveness at the 77 level. When Christ offered himself on the Cross for
our salvation, that was forgiveness at 777.
No human person can achieve such perfection.
Today
our prayer is simple. May we be given
the grace to forgive those who trespass against us, and accept that we share in
their failings. Today we thank God for
his Son who died, showing us forgiveness.
In
this strange year where many of us will not be able to receive the Blessed
Sacrament or celebrate as a community in our houses of worship, we must be
prepared to receive spiritual communion in prayer:
My Jesus,
I believe that You
are present in the Most Holy Sacrament.
I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
Since I cannot at this moment
receive You sacramentally,
come at least spiritually into my heart. I embrace You as if You
were already there and unite myself wholly to You. Never permit me to be
separated from You.
Amen.
Pax
[1]
The picture is “Ezekiel” (detail) by Michelangelo Buonarroti, 1510.
[3]
The readings are taken from the New American Bible,
with the exception of the psalm and its response which were developed by the
International Committee for English in Liturgy (ICEL). This republication is
not authorized by USCCB and is for private use only.
[4]
The Navarre Bible: “Major Prophets,” Scepter Publishers, Princeton, NJ, © 2002,
p. 637.
[5]
Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, © 2010, Ignatius Press, San Francisco, CA. p.
39.
[6]
trespass.
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/trespass (accessed: August 11, 2020).
[7]
ibid
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