Day: October 27, 2024

“You all are partakers of my grace”

The Morning Prayers readings from Wisdom 11 and from Luke 13 complement rather wonderfully this morning’s eucharistic readings from Paul’s letter to the Philippians and Matthew’s Gospel. The Gospel reading might seem rather forbidding and dark and yet it illustrates the deeper meaning of the prayer of Paul “that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgement”. The parable of the unforgiving servant shows the meaning of not acting out of the infinite mercy and forgiveness of God, in effect negating the very mercy which he himself has received.

Forgive even as you have been forgiven. In complete contrast to the unrighteous servant who was paradoxically the example of acting with prudence, as you may recall, the unforgiving servant shows the true meaning of human wickedness to illustrate what we should not do. With the words of the forgiveness for which he had asked still ringing in his ears, he refuses to forgive another of much smaller debt, as one of the Fathers, John Chyrsostom, I think, noted. The parable is told in response to Peter’s question about the limits of forgiveness. How often shall I forgive the one who has sinned against me? Is there a number? Can forgiveness be quantified?

This speaks to our age which mistakes data and information for knowledge and understanding. This is to focus on the finite and limited, the quantitative, at the expense of the forms of our participation in what is infinite and eternal, namely, the wisdom and grace of God, the substantial. This is where the lessons from such texts as Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus in the Apocrypha help to deepen our understanding of the infinite mercy of God. To be made aware of this is all our joy; to negate it is all our misery. “Thou art merciful to all”, Wisdom tells us, “for thou canst do all things, and thou dost overlook men’s sins, that they may repent, for thou lovest all things that exist, and hast loathing for none of the things that thou hast made”.

This is a wonderful affirmation of the essential goodness of creation and of our humanity even in its disorders. “Thou sparest all things, for they are thine, O Lord who lovest the living”. With great insight, the reading from Wisdom concludes: “For thy immortal spirit is in all things. Therefore thou dost correct little by little those who trespass, and dost remind and warn them of the things wherein they sin, that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in thee, O Lord”. Is it not in this spirit that we may best understand the Gospel story of the unforgiving servant? It is told for our correction, for our good, to remind us of the freedom and love of acting out of the mercies and forgivenesses which we have received. It is told to awaken us to the infinite mercy of God which knows no limits. God is all good and his goodness is for all. But it means that we have to act in the likeness of God’s acts of mercy. It is what we pray.

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