Sunday, October 29, 2017
21ST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST (29TH
S. Ord Time)
Proverbs, Chapter
14, Verse 2
Those who walk
uprightly fear the LORD, but those
who are devious in their ways spurn him.
Bishop Fulton Sheen is one of his weekly addresses
in February 1999 entitled "Truth - Forgotten Ideal" stated: Submission is one of the deepest needs of the human
heart. After a century and a half of false liberalism, in which it was denied
that anything is true, and that it makes no difference what you believe, the
world reacted to totalitarianism. It grew tired of its freedom, just as
children in progressive schools grow tired of their license to do whatever they
please. Freedom fatigues those who want to shirk responsibility. Then it is
they look for some false god into whose hands they can throw themselves, so
they will never have to think or make decisions for themselves. Nazism,
Fascism, and Communism came into being during the twentieth century, as a
reaction against false liberalism.
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
GOSPEL. Matthew 22:34-40
When
the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together,
and one of them, a scholar of the law tested him by asking, "Teacher,
which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "You
shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second
is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the
prophets depend on these two commandments" (Mt 22:34-40).
Twenty-First
Sunday after Pentecost
Spiritually arming oneself (for both now and
Armageddon) and forgiving each other so that we may be forgiven on Judgment
Day.
GOSPEL. Matt, xviii.
23-35[1]
At
that time. Jesus spoke to His disciples this parable: The kingdom of God is likened
to a king who would take an account of his servants. And when he had begun to take
the account, one was brought to him that owed him ten thousand talents. And as he
had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his
wife and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. But that
servant, falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay
thee all. And the lord of that servant, being moved with pity, let him go, and
forgave him the debt. But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow-servants
that owed him a hundred pence; and laying hold of him, he throttled him, saying:
Pay what thou owest. And his fellow-servant, falling down, besought him, saying:
Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast
him into prison, till he paid the debt. Now his fellow-servants, seeing what
was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was
done. Then his lord called him, and said to him: Thou wicked servant! I forgave
thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: shouldst not thou then have had
compassion also on thy fellow-servant, even as I had compassion on thee? And his
lord, being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. So
also shall My heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother
from your hearts. What would Jesus teach by this parable? The king is God; the
servant is mankind; the ten thousand talents, equal to ten millions of dollars,
signify the enormous andexcessive debts which men contract by their sins against
God: a sum so exceedingly great as to show clearly that the debt of man to God is
without limit, and truly overwhelming. The hundred pence, a small sum, equal to
perhaps six or seven dollars, denotes the offences which others have given us, and
which, in comparison with our offences against God, are insignificant. By this parable,
therefore, Jesus intended to say: As God forgives your immense debts if you sorrowfully
pray for forgiveness, so ought you to forive your fellow-men their comparatively
light debts when they ask forgiveness of you. Unless you grant it, you shall receive
no pardon from My Father.
Who are like that unmerciful servant? All unmerciful and hard-hearted persons;
particularly;
1.
rulers
who oppress the people by excessive taxes;
2.
those
who oppress widows and orphans, and keep from servants the wages due them
3.
those
who have no patience with their debtors, but deprive them of house and goods rather
than be indulgent to them. God will deal with such men in the otherworld as they
have dealt with their neighbors in this.
4.
Finally,
all persons who will not forgive injuries done them, but preserve hatred in
their hearts; who bring such as have injured them before the courts, and even seek
to injure them out of revenge.
How can they hope to obtain mercy? What is meant by forgiving from the heart? It is to banish from the
heart all hatred and desire of revenge; to bear in our hearts a sincere love towards
our enemy, and to manifest it by works of charity.
If we think of the multitude of sins
which God has forgiven us, how can we refuse to forgive trifling wrongs against
ourselves? At any
rate, let us not forget that God forgives us only when we also forgive from the
heart.
Merciful
God, grant me grace to be truly merciful towards my fellow-men, as Thou art towards
me.
Daily
Devotions
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