Tag: Condition

This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.

Although the Old Testament is superficially considered by some to portray God as severe and unyielding, over and over, we see passages like today’s first reading. Azariah–otherwise known as Abednego, one of the three whom Nebuchadnezzar cast into a white-hot furnace–offers God the sacrifice of a contrite heart. He knows that this abundantly merciful God will see his repentance and look with love not only on him, but on his entire people.

The king in Jesus’ parable in the gospel is no other than the God of the Old Testament. He is abundantly merciful to his indebted servant and forgives him the massive amount that he owes. But he expects the same mercy to be mirrored in the servant, who instead treats a fellow servant with a debt to him, a much smaller debt, severely. The king’s reaction is to withdraw his offer to forgive the massive debt of the first servant.

And this king is also none other than the God of the Our Father: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

God conditions our salvation on our acceptance of it, and our willingness to let Him transform us into something purified and exalted–something much greater than our sinful selves. Part of that transformation is our kindness and mercy toward those who fall short in our lives. It is well to remember that our forgiveness of others is cited over and over in the Gospels, and throughout the Bible, as a condition of our forgiveness by God.

Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus to send His Spirit to transform your heart profoundly from one that harbors resentment, momentary or extended, into one that forgives immediately, conscious of what you yourself have been forgiven.