The necessity of forgiveness

Monday, November 07, 201632nd Week in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Ti 1: 1-9
Gospel Reading: Lk 17:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples, “Scandals will necessarily come and cause people to fall; but woe to the one who has brought it about. It would be better for that one to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around the neck. Truly this would be better for that person than to cause one of these little ones to fall.
“Be careful. If your brother offends you, rebuke him and if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he offends you seven times in a day but says to you seven times: ‘I’m sorry,’ forgive him.”
The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” And the Lord said, “If you have faith even the size of a mustard seed, you may say to this tree: ‘Be uprooted and plant yourself in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)
The Lord acknowledged that scandals necessarily come but warned scandalous persons with harsh punishment especially when children are the victims. Scandal here is understood as any human act that shocks others morally and spiritually. Scandal therefore aggravates one’s guilt. When the evil that we do shock others to the point that it hampers their spiritual growth, we can expect harsher punishment coming. The Lord did not mince words when he said “It would be better for that one to be thrown into the sea with a millstone around the neck.”

But while Jesus was stern towards people who commit scandal, he was also advocating forgiveness. The consistency in forgiveness that Jesus was advocating is clear in his use of the symbolic number seven – a perfect number in Jewish numerology. The Lord said, “And if he offends you seven times in a day but says to you seven times: ‘I’m sorry’, forgive him.”
Note, however, that there is a corresponding requirement of repentance. The offender needs to repent and ask for forgiveness. When he does, the offended party must be ready with forgiveness. The requirement of repentance does not include the assurance of non-repetition. A repentant offender could fall again out of sheer human weakness. All he needs to do is rise again and ask for forgiveness anew. When he does, we should be ready with forgiveness, for that is what ‘seven times’ means in Biblical parlance.
Understandably this is easier said than done, for while we all love to be forgiven, we hate to forgive. We need to ask the Lord, then, to increase our faith. Only in faith can we forgive offenders, including those who inflict us with scandals that shake our faith. – (Atty.) Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM, MMExM, MAPM, REB. Email: [email protected]
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