Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Forgiveness leads to
Freedom
Dear brothers and sisters in christ jesus, the readings of
the day focus on Prayer for Protection and Forgiveness.
1st reading:
The Context : Nebuchadenezzar, the king of
Babylon, sets up a huge statue (Probably His or His Gods) in the centre of
Babylon and orders everyone to bow down and worship and whosoever refuses to
heed the command are punishable by death and will be thrown into the high voltage
furnace blazing high.
But the
Hebrews officials, especially Shadrach, Meshach and Azariah
refused to bow down and worship, then they were summoned before the king to
give their account. The king was enraged with anger and ordered them to be thrown into the furnace. Here in
this context Azariah makes a wonderful prayer for
God’s Mercy and Protection.
At the moment of their agony, they
were content with one thing that they have been faithful to God and His call
and never turned away from Him. Azariah prayed to God praising and thanking for
all the blessings. He prayed for God’s will and pleaded for forgiveness for the
times they were not able to worship as they were abandoned in Babylon without
any leader. He prayed to receive them with their contrite heart and humble
spirit. And thus placed their situation at the feet of the Lord’s mercy and
protection.
God heard their prayers and saved them, everyone along with
Nebuchadenezzar witnessed the Presence of Living God.
Everytime we recite Our Father, (the Lord’s Prayer) we pray
for forgiveness “forgive us as we
forgive those who sin against us.” it’s a courageous prayer, to be honest it’s not easy to
forgive. It's a hard task indeed. Because the pain, the grief that arises from
the offences,hurts and opinions of the others makes it even impossible to face.
Today in the Gospel, St. Peter asks how many times should
I forgive my brother?, well he thought he was very generous with 7 times but
Jesus multiplied it and places no limit to it. There is no quantity and there
is no fixed quota, that we should forgive only these many times. But everytime
one genuinely repents and returns, he has to accept, forgive and renew the
relationship. God acts in the same way.
An Example:
The
act of forgiving: we are in controle. when we forgive we
relieve another person’s debt and we are on the other hand released from the
pain and can move. Therefore it’s a kind of freedom we experience at the
moment.
The
act of asking for forgiveness: we are at the mercy of
Giver.
In
the parable when the servant appears to be sincere and pleads for mercy and
time, the king was so generous that he
forgave the total debt. He was freed.
But the same servant could not forgive his fellow servant who vowed only
a little amount compared to him. Instead he seized, choked and demanded to be
paid immediately. Unfortunately he was not sincere in his repentance, thus he
lost the mercy of the King too. here:
The king represents
God, He has forgiven completely and in return we are encouraged to forgive
others. There is no “ifs and Buts” and there is no limit to forgiving. But if
we try to hold it ourselves there is a risk of losing God’s mercy in our lives.
★
Forgiveness leads to freedom
★
Forgiveness renews relationships
★
Forgiveness consists of a “Give and Take”
system.
★
Forgiveness is not turning blind eye to
the wrong but restoring the broken one.
★
Forgiveness is to form an alliance with
God
“with contrite heart and humble spirit let us be received” (Daniel 3:39)
“forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12)
