HOMILY FOR THE 24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A (3)

HOMILY FOR THE 24TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR A.

THEME: “NOT SEVEN, I TELL YOU BUT, SEVENTY-SEVEN TIMES”.

BY: Fr. Cajetan Anyanwu.

This is the 24th Sunday in ordinary time (Yr. A).
We often hear that,, “To err is human, but to forgive is divine.” The lesson from this adage is that humans are not divine. But they are meant to obey the divine precepts. Since God in his divinity forgives all human beings their sins, it is also the duty of the human person to follow the divine ordinance. This means that forgiveness is a divine mandate to be observed by humans. Failure to obey this divine ordinance is deadly. The book of Ecclsiasticus says: “Forgive your neighbor the hurt he does you, and when you pray, your sins will be forgiven” ( Eccl. 27:30-28:7).

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In spite of our sins God still loves us. But he rebukes us when we go astray and fail to forgive others. The surest way to obtain forgiveness for our sins is by forgiving others who offend us. We recite this when we say the prayer: Our Father…. Hence the measure you give will determine the measure you receive. As children of God we belong to him. If we belong to him, we are for him. For this reason Paul says, “The life and death of each of us has its influence on others; if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die we die, we die for the Lord” ( Rom. 14:7-9).

Forgiveness brings reconciliation, restores fraternal love and guarantees the fullness of human integrity. This fullness is symbolized by the number “seven”(7). In this sense, it refers to completeness and fullness. It signifies the perfection of charity . Hence, Jesus tells us to forgive others who offend us not just seven times, but seventy-seven times (Mtt.18:21-35). It means our forgiveness must be complete without conditions or reservations. Let us pray to be ready to forgive others so that our prayers will be heard by God. Happy Sunday.

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