Forgiveness
Cimabue: Crucifix
“If a good man strikes or reproves me it is kindness.
Set, O Lord, a guard over my mouth;
keep watch at the door of my lips.” Psalm 141 (out of sequence.)
An unedited homily from Don Marco for the Mass of the day, June 20, 2006: (A day late!)
³I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for those whopersecute you² (Mt 5:44). ³Bless those who curse you, pray for those whoabuse you² (Lk 6:28). These are not suggestions, dear brothers and sisters;they are not pious recommendations. They are clear precepts of Christ:commandments conceived in His merciful Heart and addressed to each of uswithout exception. It is no coincidence that this Gospel passage should be given usat this particular liturgical moment: halfway between the Solemnity of theMost Holy Body and Blood of Christ and that of the Most Sacred Heart ofJesus. One cannot receive the Forgiving Heart of Jesus in the Eucharist andpersist in refusing anyone forgiveness. One cannot approach the PiercedHeart of Jesus and not be drawn into His prayer to the Father from theCross: ³Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do² (Lk 23:34). The prevalent culture of options and of personal choices has allbut rendered us impermeable to the commandments of Our Lord. We prefer tothink of them as suggestions or as ³talking points.² Contemporarysensibilities in the world and, alas, even in the Church, resent theobjective precept, the non-negotiable commandment, the mandate coming fromabove. A combination of the effects of original sin and actual sins ofpride has conditioned us to want to discuss everything, to debateeverything, to argue the value of any law coming from above us or outside ofus. Today in the Gospel Our Lord presents us with just such a commandment.It is not a suggestion. It is not open to discussion. It is not thesubject of debate. It is a divine commandment. In obeying it, we obey God.In neglecting to obey it, we neglect to obey God. Insofar as we consider ourselves disciples of Christ, we arebound to bless those who curse us, to pray for those who speak evil againstus. We are commanded to do good to those who hate us. This good that weare commanded to do is, first of all and above all, prayer. There is no greater force for good than prayer. There is nobetter way to do good to those who hate us than by asking the light of theFace of Christ to envelop them and penetrate them. There is nothing morebeneficial to those who afflict us than confident recourse to the piercedHeart of Jesus. There is no more powerful blessing of those who curse usthan the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass offered on their behalf. For thosespeak evil against us there is no prayer more powerful than the prayer ofChrist the High Priest who, in every Mass, stands before His Father,pleading and interceding for those who approach God through Him. Mother Church, with her ancient experience of human nature,provides us with the means of obeying this commandment of our Lord. TheRoman Missal contains a Mass specifically for this purpose. It is entitledPro Affligentibus Nos, ³For Those Who Afflict Us.² The title of the Massspeaks volumes. Opening my Latin dictionary to the entry for affligo, I seethat it means to throw down, to afflict, damage, crush, break, ruin; humble,weaken, or vex. If you have ever felt thrown down, if you have ever feltafflicted, damaged, crushed, broken, ruined, humbled, weakened, or vexed,you need to enter wholeheartedly into today¹s Mass Pro Affligentibus Nos. There is a mysterious power in praying for those who have hurtus, in interceding wholeheartedly
