A mezuzah at the entrance of a Jewish home, Reform Judaism.

A scholar of the law tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”      Matthew 22:34.

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There are some things in life which are absolute. Death and taxes are two of them, unavoidable, inevitable and to be accepted whether we like them or not. And then there is today’s gospel. Jesus answered a basic question: “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Without any hesitation his answer was to quote from the Book of Deuteronomy 6:5, known as the Shema (meaning Hear… as in “Hear O Israel”): “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Simply the Jewish profession of faith, recited daily by the pious and every Sabbath day in the synagogue. It was and is the sine qua non of Jewish – and our – faith. If ever you see the right doorframe to a Jewish home you might see a small, long metal box. Inside this there will be a scroll on which that command will be written out and placed and the box attached to the doorpost. It is called the mezuza. It is a sign of that homeowner’s love of God and their dedication to God’s commands, the ultimate of which is contained within the mezuza. Often on the outside of this little sign of dedication to God is the letter Shin שׁ as you can see in the illustration above. That is the first letter for Shaddai, the Hebrew word for “Almighty”  שַׁדַּי  a reference to God, whose most holy name may never be spoken aloud. In other words, it is the heart and soul of devotion to God, both inside, in the soul, and outside, signified in the mezuza. So Jesus in declaring that, proclaims a total devotion to God answering that simple – yet profound – question. And it is the perfect answer.

However, there is another side to this question, which Jesus did not address. To be a good, observant Jewish man or woman at that time, scholars have calculated that, depending on your occupation, your gender, your position in society and other conditions, there were a total of six hundred and thirteen mitzvot (or “commandments”) to be followed, 248 being positive, what you had to do, and 365 negative commands, what you had to avoid doing. This accounts for St. Paul often talking about the countless rules and regulations Jewish folk had to obey to be deemed “good” by God. As you can see from today’s readings, none of that was even mentioned by Jesus. His teaching was quite simple: “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” All else follows from that one command, including the clarifying “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Do that, and, as Paul says in today’s second reading, “…you became a model for all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.” The first reading, which is rather bellicose compared to the other readings, threatens terrible things if that golden rule is not followed: “You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own wives will be widows, and your children orphans.” Pretty clear. We Christians, having been told that God is love (as 1 John 4:8 states: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”) might conclude that God will punish such people when they stand before the Judge of All, having been given time and opportunity to reform. And note the verb in Jesus’ response to that question: You shall love the Lord, your God…. And that is the message for this Sunday (and indeed every Sunday). What is – or should be – the focus of our lives?

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.

Deuteronomy 6:5 – Love the Lord Sticker, Sixty1Ten Designs.

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The “Tribute Penny” traditionally associated with today’s gospel in the time of the Emperor Tiberius:

                                                            EXPLANATION:

TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS IMP VII:

(TI = Tiberius; CAESAR = Family name, became the imperial title, pronounced “KAISAR” in Latin; DIVI AUG F =  Son (Filius) of Divine (ie, god) Augustus; IMPERATOR SEPTIMUM = Proclaimed Supreme Military Commander for the 7th Time.

PONTIF MAXIM POTEST XVII SC:

PONTIF MAXIM = Pontifex Maximus (High Priest); TRIBVN POTEST XVII = Holder of Tribunician Power for the 17th time; S-C = Senatus Consultum: Decree of the Senate, meaning the coin was approved by the Roman Senate and is legal.

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Jesus said, “Show me the coin that pays the census tax.” Then they handed him the Roman coin. He said to them, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” They replied, “Caesar’s. At that he said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.”   Matthew 22:20-21.

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First thing to note in today’s gospel is the honey-coated language hiding a trap: “Teacher, we know that you are a truthful man and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. And you are not concerned with anyone’s opinion, for you do not regard a person’s status….”  All very humble and sweet, but it leads up to the trap: “Tell us, then, what is your opinion: Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar or not?” Very respectful, but note this well: If Jesus says “No, we should not pay. The coin has an image” and he could well say that because any image was strictly forbidden in Jewish society. That springs from the prohibition on images in the second of the Ten Commandments: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below…”  That stands today. Go into any synagogue, and you not see a single picture or “graven image” anywhere (which also holds for any strict Muslim house of worship for the same reason). So he could well have said that – but did not. If he had, he would have been accused of defying Roman law and ultimately refusing to pay tax, a crime, and that by the strict Jews asking the question! If, on the other hand, he said, “Well, unhappily we all have to pay tax whether we like it or not”, and he would have been accused of collaboration, supporting the pagan, unclean Romans, betraying his Jewish heritage, and, even worse, seeming to accept the claim that Tiberius’ father, the Emperor Augustus, had been declared a god (the divine Augustus, on the coin). So Jesus was damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t! His answer is ingenious – “Whose image is on the coin?” “Caesar’s” – well then….. and Jesus responds to the challenge brilliantly, probably to the outrage of those standing there who thought they had “got” him. His final comment was also very clever, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God” to which there is no response.

However, looking at the picture of a Roman coin above, which possibly was one like Jesus held in response to the question, several things are notable. “Pontif Maxim” stands for “Pontifex Maximus”, which means Chief Bridge-Builder and meant for a priestly function, and was a title that Roman emperors and many popes have taken for themselves over the centuries. Finally, in European history, the term “Imperator” came to mean Emperor, and the family name of (Julius) Caesar is at the root of the German title of Kaiser and the Russian (and Bulgarian) title of Tsar.

Today’s first reading seems to link in with Jesus’ toleration of the pagan coin at the center of today’s gospel with an earlier example of toleration from Jewish history, today’s first reading. The Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Jerusalem after a 30-month siege in about 587 BC and had most of the Jewish leaders transported to Babylon, initiating the Captivity or Exile of the Jewish nation. But in about 539BC the Babylonians were themselves defeated by the Persian king Cyrus. Today’s first reading tells that story, as the exiles were allowed to return home and rebuild the destroyed Temple (with which Jesus would have been familiar). Cyrus, it is thought, was a Zoroastrian, a follower of Zoroaster who lived about the year 600BC. There are many scholars who claim that the three kings, more properly scholars or “magoi”, arriving in Bethlehem to worship the newborn Jesus, were followers of Zoroaster (known today as the Parsi, banished from their homeland of Persia (Iran) and now spread throughout the world, with the largest number living in or near the Indian city of Mumbai). And note that Zoroastrians believe in one god, most unusual for that ancient time. So look closely at today’s first reading, praising Cyrus not only for tolerating diverse beliefs, but also for allowing exiles, including the Jews, to return home.

Thought to be the Tomb of Cyrus the Great, Madarsoleyman, Fars Province, Iran. 

And, after all this, today’s second reading is quiet, peaceful and full of God’s Holy Spirit. Which is a little strange as Paul, who wrote the two letters to them, had to work to feed himself there, probably tent-making, thought to be his profession.  So it was possibly a little bit of wishful thinking on Paul’s part. Perhaps that early Christian community was very poor financially, and he certainly upset many of them as some followed him and turned people against him in other places. So his message of peace and trust in God really did mean something, as it should today, with us.

The Tribute Money, Titian 1560s, The National Gallery, London, UK.

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Part of The Great West Door of the Cathedral of St. Stephen, c. 1195, Bourges, France.

The king said to his attendants, ‘Bind his hands and feet, and cast him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.’ Many are invited, but few are chosen.”                             Matthew 22:13-14.

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If ever you are in an ancient Catholic country in Europe and visit the local cathedral, take a moment to look at the great west door. There  is always a great west door because the cathedrals of Europe were always built generally pointing towards Jerusalem, namely to the east. Also they are always in the shape of a cross. So the main entrance is always the great west door at the western end of the building. And as you look at the carvings on the great west door, look at the bottom right hand corner. If this is a “average” ancient cathedral, you will find a design similar to the photograph above, taken in Bourges, France, in 2008, and so had been there for over 800 years. It displays the medieval imagination of hell, whither the man who had not prepared for the wedding feast in today’ gospel but came to it anyway, was summarily cast. It does not take much imagination to hear and see the wailing and grinding of teeth. If you look closely, a monk is being hastened towards the cauldron, just as two bishops are being thrust in! And in today’s gospel, you might be tempted to ask, was this simply because the fellow had not put on his Sunday best to go to the wedding feast? Yes, but….

Hell is a fascinating thought, as it appears in many places, situations and moments. And there are many words meaning the same thing: Netherworld, Gehenna, Hades, Sheol, Underworld, Inferno, Tartarus, bottomless pit, abode of the damned, etc. And there is Dante’s very famous line over the entrance to hell: “Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate” or Abandon hope all ye who enter here. To abandon all hope….. That is a dreadful thought, literally – full of dread. You will never, ever, be able to correct the behavior which brought you there, all remorse will be useless, you will never be able to make up for the evil behavior which brought you to that moment. Yes: abandon all hope. These days I think it is rare to hear talk of hell from the pulpit in church. It is not a popular subject, and priests seem to be very averse to any mention of it at all. But Jesus quite clearly states that’s where we will end up if….. Which brings us to the Sunday Best that gentleman was not wearing when he arrived at the feast in today’s gospel. So, clearly, Sunday Best must mean a great deal more than a suit of clothes; in this parable, I think it demonstrates contempt for what is held to be good and decent in this life. It must be the description, in some way, of that man’s life here on earth. The better, the better. The worse, the worse. And, speaking of the here and now, if sinful action is allowed to dominate your life, then the worst will happen. And I feel that we all know when we are doing the opposite of what God wants of us. The Church says that each one of us is inclined to the good, as we are made in God’s image, but we instinctively know when we freely choose to be evil, when we freely act sinfully, selfishly, and – even worse – joyfully, then that sort of behavior will end us up in hell. And my image of hell is, I think, worse than the ancient picture in stone above. It is to be banished into intense dark, fully conscious, forever. If we have ignored all divine teaching throughout our lives, just pleasing ourselves, then each one of us will exist forever with ourself alone, with only our life’s memories over and over. If God and others were utterly ignored, or ridiculed in some way, or treated contemptuously or simply excluded throughout our life, then we have only ourselves left, and it is with that reality with which we will live forever. That’s my image of hell, all hope gone, and we are utterly unable to do anything about it. One year from now, we will still be there, alone, fully conscious, in the dark, with nothing but our own thoughts and memories. In 200 years, it will be the same. In 1000 years….. the same. It is a very chilling thought, but which we brought on ourselves.

So, how do we avoid such a devastating conclusion to our time on earth? Well, today’s readings do really seem to invite us to enjoy life to the fullest, with “a feast of rich food and choice wines, juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines”, from today’s first reading, where death has been destroyed, so presumably this is the reward for being a loving child of God in this life. And the second reading today seems to suggest how we can do that. Paul says he is used to good times and bad, always trusting supremely in the Lord (and that is to be achieved by loving each other, Jesus’ one and only command). That means taking care of both ourselves and others, now and always. That requires a positive outlook at all times if possible, and when not, it requires us to be as creative, resourceful and as generous as possible. And so we come to the great wedding feast in today’s gospel. And here, note, the invited are not being called to be anything other than themselves, but ready to wish blessings and good health on the happy bride and groom. But the ones first invited choose not to come, completely wrapped up in themselves to an extreme degree, even to the inexplicable extent of killing the king’s messengers, for which they are punished. So the king opens the palace gates to anyone and everyone, all invited to the wedding feast. And they (we) come, no doubt amazed that the invitation is as generous as it is, and consequently everyone goes in their Sunday best, except for one. When challenged by the king (no less) as to why he has done that, and with no answer, he too is forever condemned to eternal damnation for putting his comfort above all else and hang the consequences.

We – all of us – are invited to that self-same banquet in the grandest of grand locations, heaven itself! We would be utterly idiotic to ignore it and continue on as if nothing had happened! But we humans are a stubborn bunch, much more prone to doing our own thing than fulfilling God’s hope for all of us. But this open invitation should be forever fixed before us, the goal of everything we do in this life. And getting that Sunday best has to be part of the deal. Without it, disaster. Therefore it is our choice, ours alone, as to our response. And how could anyone not be prepared for such an event?

 

The Cathedral of Notre-Dame d’Amiens 1270, the Great West Door, photograph taken in 2008.

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The Parable of the Murderous Tenants, Speculum humane salvationis Badische c.1350, Badische Landesbibliothek MS Karlsruhe 3378, fol. 69r, Karlsruhe, Germany.

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…when the tenants saw the (owner’s) son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.’

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(***Please note: In the Diocese of Brooklyn, and possibly in your diocese also, the feast of St. Francis is celebrated today. These are the readings for the regular 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time***)

 

We have another vineyard image in today’s gospel and this time I remembered a friend who grew up in Greece before his family came to the USA. Well his grandmother owned a vineyard, and he was marshaled into the workforce at a very tender age, and basically placed into the winepress and told to start treading (presumably with washed feet)! Yes folks, that type of ancient winemaking is still to be found, especially with children, as they are not heavy enough to crush the grape seeds which would make the wine bitter. They will simply crush the grapes, and the juice extracted is collected for the next step. I wonder if granny is still doing that…

Today’s first reading talks of the care that an owner took preparing for a new vineyard on fertile land – stones cleared away, watchtower for protection and alerts built, the winepress acquired, the best vines purchased, but all to no avail: sour grapes only. What more could  the owner have done, assuming the weather had also collaborated? The answer of course, is nothing. He had done all in his power to assure success. And today, it seems, the way to do that comes from the second reading today.

There, St. Paul provides the satisfying answer. Truth, honor, justice, purity, the beautiful, the full of grace, excellence, anything praiseworthy are all linked together as the perfect life in God, the God of peace. No matter the challenges, and there will be many, the enormity of the decent life is always a challenge. Paul taught the Philippians to trust in such a life, to live by it and to deal with the obstacles, the difficulties, the struggles, the hardships in the best way aligned with God’s directives. Because with the Lord, nothing is insuperable. And so, today’s chilling parable comes onto focus. There is a plot to murder the owner’s son (presumably the only heir) and with a bit of luck the workers will end up owning the land, assuming the owner is devastated by his loss. But – not so. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone”. The perpetrators will be punished and those taking over will live in the peace that comes from the right life.

How Do Grapes Grow? Bloom, Veraison, Ripening & Harvest, Coravin.  

Jesus clearly meant each element in his story to represent the history of Israel from its earliest days. Israel was given to the Hebrew people by God, which is to say, the vineyard itself and the workers are seen as its original occupants. He then sent his servants to check on progress and what profit the vineyard had achieved. But these were each treated with contempt and brutality – the prophets sent by God over the centuries to get the people back to the truth and the divine way. Then the owner – God the Father – figured if he sent his only Son, then they would listen and amend their ways. Not so… Hence the owner then decided to employ other tenants – us – in the hope that they (we) would do a better job and succeed in achieving what the owner had always wanted, happiness for all. And the strange thing is, that doing God’s will is the means through which we achieve happiness! Doing what God wants for us can hardly be thought of as anti-human which would make no sense at all. God wants each of us to be fully human, as Jesus himself was, the same as us in all things – but sin. That is the way towards happiness. The closer we are to the model that Jesus left for us, the closer to the heart of love we will be. And that is where happiness is to be found; indeed, the only way!

“The oldest wine bar in the world”, Al Brindisi, Tripadvisor, Ferrara, Italy.

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The Parable of the Two Sons, Richard Dobbs Acrylic on Canvas 2025, Christian Painters and Art Lovers.

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[Jesus asked], Which of the two did his father’s will?”    Matthew 21:31.

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Jesus points out today in stark clarity the difference between what we say and what we do. Sometimes, as in today’s parable, our actions can end up being the exact opposite of what we say. One son said “Yes” to his father’s request, the other “No”, and each did the exact opposite of what they had said. Here, clearly, actions speak infinitely louder than words. But look a little further into this story. Jesus compares the chief priests and elders of the people, the ruling class you might say, to those who could possibly claim to be the dregs of society, prostitutes whose lives were sinful and the hated and despised tax collectors who worked for the enemy – the Romans – and were therefore labelled unclean and unworthy of any place in society; and recall that Matthew, whose feastday was last Monday, was such an outcast until the Lord saw his inner reality. Now transpose the story up another level. The parable begins with a father asking  his sons to go work in the vineyard. One says yes and does nothing, the other no, but does, in fact, do as his father requested. The despised and rejected prostitutes and tax collectors had initially said no to a life of grace in the presence of God as evidenced by their life choices, then many of them heard the message as delivered by John the Baptist, and changed their whole lives into one of grace and therefore pleasing to God. Jesus then strongly implied that the highest people in Jewish society also saw John succeeding in changing his followers for the better, yet still condemned him. There is also no evidence that those people tried to intervene and save him from the ignominious death ordered by King Herod (beheading). Yet he had succeeded in his ministry and the leaders of their society did nothing to support, encourage and imitate him. They were the people who had said “yes” to God but had done nothing even after witnessing the good that John had achieved. In that sense, they had betrayed God!

And God is worthy of so much more. Today’s second reading from St Paul’s second letter to the Philippians is possibly the most beautiful Scripture passage of all. This is my favorite translation from the Greek differing slightly from today’s reading:

Though he was in the form of God,

Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant,

being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,

even death on a cross.

Therefore God has highly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

That is the way the chief priests and elders of the people should have reacted to John’s acknowledgement that Jesus was the Messiah and more especially Jesus’ actual presence in their midst! But they did not. And, as a consequence of the prayer above, it is why we genuflect at the presence of God in the tabernacle, why we kneel during the central prayer at Mass, to show our respect and belief in what the words say, and what happens to the humble bread and wine present on the altar. Today’s first reading in a way sums up everything: But if we turn from the wickedness we have committed, and do what is right and just, we shall preserve our life; since we have turned away from all the sins that we have committed, we shall surely live, we shall not die. And there it is, Sunday after Sunday, stretching each Sunday’s teaching into that week, as we try to be decent heralds of life, and live up to the clear expectations God has for us. And, with God’s unfailing help, we can do that, we can be Christ to the world, fulfilling our divine vocation day after day. Amen, Alleluia!

The Baptism of Christ, Perugino 1482, The Sistine Chapel, Vatican City State.

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“Felices nimium colitur qucis vinea Christi aequa laborantes praemia namque ferent.” 

“Too blessed are those who tend the vineyard of Christ; for they shall receive equal rewards for their labors.”

Ambrosius Francken I, Thesaurus Novi Testamenti, 1580-1585.

[The vineyard owner said] “What if I wish to give this last one [hired] the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?” Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”     Matthew 20:15-16.

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You can almost hear the objections of those workers who had toiled in the fields all day as they watched all the recently hired workers get identical pay (and also had to wait for them to get their wages even though they were the first workers hired!). Yes, the immediate reaction is to think that they should have received more for their extra toil – except, of cause, it wasn’t extra: it was the exact amount they had agreed to at the beginning of the day. Technically they had no reason at all to complain! And the first thought to emerge is that the whole parable is a description of our work as children of God through our lifetime, trusting that we too will be admitted into heaven. But of course you cannot get “more” or “less” heaven depending on how long you have tried to obey God’s will through life… Heaven is what it is, no more or less, and we simply do our best to behave, think and respond to situations as God wills us. But a parallel situation occurred to me thinking about this parable.

To be a Christian in the first 300 years of the church risked losing your life! If you did not accept the Roman emperor as divine (therefore, as a living god) and rejected the pantheon of gods and goddesses who protected the Empire, you risked torture and death. It was a form a treason, murder of the state: if you did not worship the gods and the emperor, who protected the state, you threatened the safety of the state, were guilty of treason and therefore had to be punished. Quite logical. It was due to the Emperor Constantine that Christian persecution ended once and for all in the Roman Empire in the year 313. In fact, his immediate predecessor Emperor Diocletian had inflicted the worst Christian persecution known up to that time. So the confusion among those early Christians must have been total – threatened with terrible death in many creative ways, and then only a few years later Christianity was declared legal! But here’s the thing: Constantine, after a legendary victory at the Milvian Bridge, which won him the throne, seems to have been convinced of the truth of Christianity. But – and it’s a big ‘but’ – he waited for baptism until literally on his deathbed. To this day the Church states that all sins are forgiven at baptism. And Constantine waited until the very end before being baptized. So couldn’t you say that Jesus’ parable today parallels that situation? I have been trying to do the right thing for the Lord for the past 81 years, and yet I know that has not been a sinless period! Purgatory was established for the likes of me – the cell in which I will be imprisoned awaits. And I might well see someone I may have condemned in life for being a reprobate and who had not been baptized, but who saw the light at the last moment, was baptized and flies past me into the heavens….. That’s what the first laborers in the parable felt! After all, I knew all that time what I should have done in all circumstances, yet so many times I did not act the way I should have. It is for those failures I must pay the price before gaining heaven. It’s called justice.

So what can we make of this whole complicated scenario? A super generous God of course! God can do things which, by any of our standards, are unthinkable! Yes indeed: the Lord can welcome some into his kingdom way ahead of any of us, greet each of them warmly while we wait (and  it might well be a long wait) before it’s our turn. So we have a choice: moan and groan about our miserable lot (Look at what I have done to help others! Look and see how much I have paid to charity! Look at the time I have devoted to others when I could have had a great time)…. and so on. God can see things and evaluate things of which we have no clue. What we should do is rejoice in a God so wonderfully generous who tends to the strays before he comes to us. So we should rejoice in their salvation and their realization that much of their lives had been a mess and the huge remorse that comes with that, but they saw that at long last, and did something about it. And us? Well, we can wait a little longer, happy in the fact that we belong to God’s chosen, knowing that a just God will, indeed, gather us up as well.

Life.Church’s Post, September 12, 2025.

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Pope John Paul II visits and forgives Mehmet Ali Ağca, who attempted to kill him in 1981.

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.      Matthew 18:21-22.

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It would be a reasonable guess that Peter was surprised, if not astounded, at Jesus’s response to his question, mentioned above. It is such a human reaction to get even with someone who has done us wrong. Hollywood would probably not exist if there was an eternal and universal desire to forgive and possibly forget (though probably to remember where the hatchet is buried). However, there is quite a lot of research and discovery about revenge, and how debilitating it can be – and how entertaining if it does not concern you! The classic British film “Kind Hearts and Coronets” is totally based on revenge with no sign of remorse or guilt. It’s great entertainment, but not based on contemporary evidence which suggests that revenge does not satisfy as it retains the pain inflicted and the anger which resulted from the hurt. Here is some of the latest research on revenge which is remarkable, and also happens to fit right into Jesus’ forthright thinking. With that in mind, we can approach the demand that Jesus insisted upon: Forgive! And there is more. Jesus was quite prone to idiomatic expression; if you take his instruction literally, then you must forgive 77 times (in this translation from the original Greek, more often translated as “Seventy-seven times seven times” or 539 times). After that – what? The literalist would perhaps say it’s fine to take revenge then. No – not so. We have many expressions in English which are strictly idiomatic, not to be taken seriously. For example:

The origin of the expression “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs” (and Pitchforks apparently), published by George Cruikshank, “Very Unpleasant Weather” 1820.

…..or, as I well remember listening years ago to then Communist East Europe short-wave radio: “Tonight it’s raining dogs and cats here in Bucharest”. Idioms have a way of making a point strongly, albeit indirectly, on which the Lord capitalized. And revenge, “a dish best eaten cold” it is said, (though it is even better not served at all) might well have provided the strength for “Kind Hearts…”, the movie mentioned above. But the research says that revenge seems to have the potential to take over our whole thought process, even damaging and corrupting our whole mind, and with no acceptable outcome except for doing more wrong. “Forgive” says the Lord, always, everywhere, without question, bear no evil thoughts of revenge. In the famous movie “Jesus of Nazareth”, there is an imaginary scene set in the Temple in Jerusalem between Jesus and Barabbas. Fully expecting Jesus to call the people to arms and defeat the Romans, Barabbas reassures Jesus of their willingness to follow him to victory. But Jesus had a very different idea… Forgiveness may seem to be impossible in the heat of the moment, but when some perspective is possible, we must forgive – and from the heart. Consider the clear contrast with the determined revenge in “Kind Hearts…” with another stage character, Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. You will recall that he was imprisoned for stealing bread to feed his family and then could not find work once released as he was still on parole. But he, rather than pursue a life of crime (and he was clever enough to do so) was transformed because of his experience with the saintly Bishop of Digne, who bought his soul for Christ in a key event, and went on to a life of selfless dignity and worth. And finally, there was that terrible slaughter of the innocents in West Nickel Mines in Pennsylvania in 2006. A man broke into a one-room Amish school and shot dead five children in cold blood. The response of the grief-stricken parents and the Amish community can be seen here, one of the most incredibly Christian responses in the face of evil unimaginable.

Today’s other two readings reinforce the Lord’s clear instruction, but with rather more severe language. Sirach says, “Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor….” And the second reading focuses on the essentials: “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….” And revenge of any kind cannot survive a life lived that way. But it does indeed have the potential to lead us down the wrong pathway away from life hand in hand with the Lord, to a destiny of tears and hatred, just what the Devil ordered!

Holy Trinity Catholic Church (permanently closed), Romeo Celleghin 1946, Lorain, Ohio, USA. 

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Jesus embracing the Prodigal Son, unknown provenance.

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Jesus said to his disciples: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.    Matthew 18:15.

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At the heart of the Christian message is the challenge and reality of forgiveness. It can be desperately hard to forgive, but the Lord himself managed it, forgiving those who had crucified him. And with forgiveness comes freedom, because anger, retribution, hatred and revenge are all chains, limiting our freedom to be our true selves, children of God. A recent article in the APS magazine says “Behavioral scientists have observed that instead of quenching hostility, revenge can prolong the unpleasantness of the original offense and that merely bringing harm upon an offender is not enough to satisfy a person’s vengeful spirit.”  In other words, revenge doesn’t work, does not bring peace and seems to be able to make a bad situation even worse. It seems to be a sort of cancer of the mind, able eventually to dominate the individual who gives way to it. And the healthy opposite of all that is forgiveness. Jesus in today’s gospel offers a practical alternative to such destruction, with a culmination which seems to be a shunning of the individual who is unable to confess, to be treated a “a Gentile or a tax collector”, someone disliked by society (but still worthy of respect). But then we must remember that Matthew was a hated tax collector, but Jesus went to his (shunned) house for dinner – which won him over! So the message would seem to be, keep trying to forgive! Indeed, today’s first reading seems to mandate an effort for us all to attempt to “dissuade the wicked from his way” whether we like it or not! And today’s second reading appears to provide the strength to do all this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.” Love, which can be expressed in many ways is the antidote. Here are some real stories of forgiveness where it seemed it was impossible to do so. And then there was this terrible crime which was met with incredible love.

It is possible that each one of us has been damaged, insulted or ridiculed by another at some time in our lives. Perhaps it was a parent, or an apparent friend who truly wasn’t, or a colleague at work who turned out to be the opposite of what we had hoped for. So be it – but how did we deal with it? It can take a really long time for many of us to come to forgiveness. I often suggest to people who mention such blighted moments in their lives, that the person responsible who reacted unacceptably might well be acting in best way they can. It may well be far from the way each of us would act – but it might be their best way, and who are we to reject it? We can quietly pity them in their cold world of being always right and we always wrong. But it is their choice, and our challenge as children of God is to act in such a good, loving way that will sow seeds of love which might well take root in that other and change them. I think that is the source of today’s message. Not easy, but at least full of hope. After all, if we demonstrate the behavior we wish others would copy, then there is the best model for them. If we can do it, so can they! Take a look at this.

So today’s readings seem to challenge all of us, all in different situations, different milieux, different backgrounds and so on. But the challenges may well be very similar, and this Sunday the Lord is asking each of us to look around, assess those around us and see where is the greatest challenge (or challenges). Then decide on an appropriate course of positive action, and begin! And never forget; when we look inside ourselves, do we find what we hope for there? Is that perhaps the place we should begin? Look at today’s readings, and each of us could begin at comparing the ideals we find there to the ideals we find in our own hearts…..

Ave Christus Divinus.

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