September 17, 2017
The gospel is about forgiving. To forgive means to take the first, second and last steps toward bridging divisions. When I was living in France and in Belgium, the expression “se regarder en chiens de faïence” was used quite often. Chiens de faïence are dogs made of earthenware. They can be put at the entrance of a temple regarding each other and stay there for centuries without moving. Se regarder en chiens de faïence means: you look at each other without moving, maybe because of a conflict, because of an old quarrel… - and you do not move for months, years, decades, or, in the case of the earthenware temple dogs, for centuries. Let us come back to the gospel: the cutting edge of Jesus' teaching on love is that nothing is unforgivable nor should there be limits to for¬giveness. For¬giveness is often difficult and sometimes painful; but Jesus calls us to look beyond our own hurt to the other per¬son's healing; Jesus calls us to look beyond our own loss to the loss of relationship, to the weakening of community; Jesus calls us to look be¬yond our own pride to the dignity and goodness of those who wrong us. When it comes to God's forgive¬ness, well, it is not entirely unconditional: if we do not share it, we will lose it. We can only obtain mercy and forgive¬ness from God if we forgive our neighbors. We are at the beginning of the school year: are there practical implications of today's readings for you? For the parents, the teachers, the students? When you leave this church, I would like you to remind become as someone building a bridge.
Fr. Wolfgang Felber, SJ