Sirach 27:30-28:7 Romans 14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35
Perfect timing, that’s what today’s readings are, perfectly timed for the events and crises and commemorations in the news this week. Forgiveness, giving it and receiving it, is as much a challenge in modern life as it was in Biblical times. And perhaps the examples of it all around us are easier to relate to.
The trial of Lindsey Clancy who killed her three children ended this week without a verdict. A lone juror would not join the other 11 in holding Lindsey not guilty by virtue of mental illness. According to the jury foreperson, the hold-out agreed that there was reasonable doubt enough to acquit Lindsey, yet declared “I’m still not going to say she’s not guilty.”
News outlets reported new Israeli bombardments and civilian deaths in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank. Israeli officials continue to insist that the experience of the Holocaust gives Israel the right to strike in response to perceived threats and to seize territory to enhance the nation’s security.
The 25th anniversary events marking the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon dominated the news this week, and were largely focused on remembered acts of courage and selflessness. In the background, however, guilt by association tainted relations with Muslims. Family members who lost loved ones on 9/11 started an online petition calling for New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani not to attend the remembrance ceremony, stating “concerns have been raised about Mr. Mamdani’s public positions, associations and responses to rhetoric that many perceive as hostile.”
The media observed the first anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s murder this week, bringing to mind the courageous act of his widow Erika, who forgave her husband’s accused murderer Tyler Robinson, first face-to-face and then in a very public way before hundreds of thousands of witnesses on live TV. It didn’t matter what one thought of Charlie; Erika’s act of forgiving his murderer was stunning.
A similar act of public forgiveness came from the group of church members in Charlestown, S.C., whose Bible study group was attacked by a 21-year old who had been sitting among them for over an hour and suddenly began shooting. A witness and several family members of the victims had a dramatic and tearful encounter with the shooter at his court hearing, saying they forgave him.
And in another act of courage, Lisa Louis witnessed an attack on her father and others at her church in Michigan. As the tragedy unfolded, Lisa said she and the shooter locked eyes, allowing her to glimpse the internal pain he was experiencing. In a heartfelt handwritten statement shared on social media, Lisa wrote that she immediately forgave the shooter “with my heart.” She described her belief that genuine forgiveness could foster peace, urging society to combat the cycle of fear, anger and hatred that often leads to violence. “If we can stop the hate, we can stop the suffering,” she emphasized.
All these news items are for me like the parable Jesus told in today’s Gospel. They are practical, concrete stories that I can identify with, be amazed by, sorrow over and learn from. The learning is the most important. For as old as I am, I have still not mastered forgiveness, either offering it or believing I deserve it.
Next Sunday here at Loretto Motherhouse we will welcome a group of visitors from Nicodemus, Kan. With them, we will have an unusual chance to experience forgiveness across centuries, for they descend from a people bound in slavery, and we are of a Community that held people in slavery. Our visitors are coming to Kentucky to see us and to visit the place where their ancestors labored in bondage at a boarding school for Choctaw Indians. They will share the stories of their ancestors with us, and we will share our stories with them. It will probably not be appropriate to say out loud, “Please forgive us,” but let us pray that our being together will help heal the cycle of fear and anger that often leads to violence. May it be so.
