Forgiveness is necessary, essential to spiritual wholeness

Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor.

“Looking Ahead” is our continuing series of reflections on the Sunday readings. This week, we celebrate the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

By Father Perry D. Leiker, pastor

Do not the words that litter the liturgy today speak for themselves?

There are so many both the negative and the positive.

Beginning with the negative — wrath, anger, hateful, sinner, vengeance, refuse, enmity, death, decay, iniquities, destruction, chide, requite.

The positive side speaks, too — forgive, healing, mercy, pardon, set aside, cease, overlook, compassion, redeems, kindness.

The reading from Sirach alone, but also coupled with the psalm, overflows with words — words that speak to the power of forgiveness and the healing that it brings.

One would think that no further words were needed to bring clarity to the concept of forgiveness, and why it is both necessary and essential to spiritual wholeness.

Yet Jesus‘ response to Peter‘s question pushes the point to its obvious conclusion, as he once again speaks of the kingdom and tells us the kingdom’s response that we need to learn and need to live.

In his story of the forgiven servant who does not learn the necessity of forgiving others, we see, as if through a mirror, the ugliness that ensues when one does not learn the lesson of forgiveness.

Indeed, to be forgiven is the best teacher; once we have experienced it, we can never go back — at least, that is Jesus’ hope for us all.

To forgive, to be forgiven, then to forgive and be forgiven again, is the cycle that should never cease being experienced and shared in our lives.

The “kingdom of God” is like this!

Father Perry D. Leiker is the 13th pastor of St. Bernard Catholic Church. Reach him at (323) 255-6142. Email Father Perry at pleiker@stbernard-church.com.