Settling into anger and exacting vengeance is natural as death... but forgiveness births eternity!

Traversing Emmaus

Homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, delivered in St Mary's Church, Buderim with Fr Isaac Falzon presiding.

"If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord? Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins? Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins; Remember the last things, and stop hating..." (cf. Eccl 27-28).

"His wrath will come to an end; he will not be angry for ever. He does not treat us according to our sins nor repay us according to our faults." (cf. Ps 103).

"... if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord..." (cf. Rom 14).

"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. 'Give me time' he said 'and I will pay the whole sum.' And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt..." (cf. Mt 18).

Artwork: a depiction of the salvific effect of forgiveness and healing in a person's life, generated using the Wonder app.