Sunday
13 September 2026 – XXIV Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Mass Readings:
Sir 27:30-28:7 Ps
103 Rom 14:7-9 Mt 18:21-35
Key Verse to Meditate:
"Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I
forgive? As many as seven times?" (Mt 18:21).
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in the
Lord,
Today,
the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, the Word of God invites us to
reflect on the importance of forgiveness and mercy in our Christian life. God
has forgiven us generously, and He calls us to extend the same forgiveness to
others.
In
the First Reading, Sirach reminds us that anger, resentment and the
desire for revenge have no place in the heart of one who has experienced God’s
mercy. We are called to forgive others as God forgives us. In the Responsorial
Psalm, we praise the Lord who is merciful and compassionate, who does not
treat us according to our sins but forgives and heals us. In the Second
Reading, St. Paul reminds us that whether we live or die, we belong to the
Lord. Our whole life, therefore, must be centred on Christ and lived according
to His love. In the Gospel, Jesus teaches us that forgiveness cannot be
limited or counted. Through the parable of the unforgiving servant, He reminds
us that, having received God’s immense mercy, we too must be ready to forgive
one another from the heart.
As
we begin this Eucharistic celebration, let us open our hearts to God’s mercy.
Let us ask the Lord to remove from us every resentment, anger and unforgiving
attitude, and give us the grace to forgive as we have been forgiven. With
grateful and humble hearts, let us participate fully in this Sunday’s Holy
Eucharist.
The
First Reading - Sir 27:30-28:7
The
first reading from Sirach links forgiveness of our neighbour directly to our
relationship with God. It also reveals exactly the teachings of Christ on anger
and vengeance: Forgive your neighbour the wrong he has done and then your sins
will be pardoned when you pray (Sir 28:2) The first reading also goes on to say
that we cannot expect healing from the Lord if we harbour anger against one
another. If we do not show mercy to our neighbours, how can we expect pardon
for our sins (Sir 28:4) God’s commandments instruct us that we should not angry
with our neighbours. It is natural to get angry.
But
we are reminded by St. Paul that even in anger we should not commit sin: Be
angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, (Eph 4:26).
Forgiveness really lies at the middle of our relationship with God and our
relationship with our brothers and sisters. At the end of the gospel of today
Jesus warns us that, so my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if
you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."(Mt 18:35).
In the teaching after teaching our father prayer, Jesus would remind once again
the necessity of forgiving the sins of other people in order to be forgiven by
God: For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also
forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive
your trespasses (Mt 6:14-15). Even in our father prayer we ask God to be
merciful to us in as much as we show mercy to our neighbours: And forgive us our debts, as we also have
forgiven our debtors. (Mt 6:12).
The
Second Reading - Rom 14:7-9
The
second reading in line with the first goes on to teach us that to forgive we
must understand that we live not only for ourselves but for Christ: We do not
live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the
Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we
die, we are the Lord’s (Rom 14:7-8). St. Paul reminds us that the Church we
live in is not ours but belongs to Christ. Therefore, we are called to imitate
Christ in his forgiveness and charity.
The
Gospel Reading: Mt 18:21-35 - The
Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
We
are forgiven but we do not extend the same forgiveness to others. God gives and
forgives. Man gets and forgets. This is the crux of today’s Gospel. We have the
parable of the unforgiving servant which is unique to Matthew’s Gospel. The
king forgave huge debt to a slave because he pleaded with him. He was forgiven
the unthinkable amount. It was indeed a unmerited singular privilege. But what
he received from the king, he already forgot once he left the presence of the
king who then just forgave him. He received and forgot. He could not forgive a
fellow servant who owed him a very little amount. This is once again a kingdom
parable in which Jesus stresses the central point of the responsibility of each
other in being forgiven by God. We are all forgive and loved by God. But our
duty towards the neighbour begins then. Once we realise how much we are loved
and forgiven like the prodigal son (Lk 15:11-32), then naturally we will also
forgive our neighbours. In the OT, we
see Yahweh instructing the Israelites to love their neighbours as themselves
(Lev 19:18; Mk 12:31). And Jesus also instructed us to remember that treating
others as we wish them to treat us comprises the whole law and the prophets (Mt
7:12).
Teaching
from the Sermon on the Mountain
Already
in the teaching on the mountain or the sermon on the mountain concerning anger
towards our neighbour Jesus would warn us saying, "You have heard that it
was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever
murders shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that if you are angry
with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a
brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You
fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire (Mt 5:21-22). But what
follows this teaching is very important. Offering something to God becomes an
acceptable gift to God, only if it is offered in a reconciled spirit with one’s
brother or a sister: So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you
remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift
there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister,
and then come and offer your gift (Mt 5:23-24).
Forgiving
Seven Times
Peter
came up with a bright idea that he could be a just person if he had fulfilled
the obligation of forgiving seven times an erring brother or a sister. But
Jesus taught him a lesson which Peter would have never forgotten for all his
life and which I am sure he would have taught later in his letters to the
Christian disciples: Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you,
seventy-seven times (Mt 18:22). This only goes to tell us that forgiveness is
not a material thing to be counted but a disposition of the mind which has to
be willing to forgive always. Repeated and daily forgiveness is required of a
Christian brother or a sister. We note
that in the following parable, the king forgave only once, not seventy plus
times seven. 18:21–22 is a memorable call for repeated forgiveness. The parable
of the unforgiving servant in Mt 18:23–35 is a reminder to all the disciples of
Christ that the failure to forgive is failure to act as the heavenly father
acts: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48). We
are invited through this parable to become a people who imitate God the Father
in his forgiveness.
Points
for Personal Reflection
Do
I set limits in forgiving people? Do I hold grudge and resentment towards
others in my heart for a long time? Do I imitate the gift of forgiveness which
the Lord has given to me personally? Do I ask the Lord’s help in forgiving
other people?
