“TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE DIVINE!”

It has been a year since the Catholic Church celebrated the Special Jubilee Year of Mercy. For some, it was just an event that came and went. But for many, it would have been a period of grace. The Year of Mercy was an invitation to experience God’s infinite compassion. No person who cares and loves is saved from getting hurt. And all have had a share in the pain of hurt inflicted by someone else. Parents can easily be misunderstood by their children who feel and think they are 25 when in fact they are only 15. Leaders can receive abusive words when novelty is proposed. Children are hurt when they feel that they have not been listened to. Truly no one is saved from getting hurt. But the more important part of life is learning how TO FORGIVE. As a priest, I have met people who recount their painful experiences with passion as if those events happened just yesterday, even if in reality they transpired many years ago. Their hurts are like cancerous wounds that never heal. The freshness of the sores is kept alive. Consequently, it negatively affects one’s social life, internal joy and peace of mind.

The beginning of the First Reading brings into attention: “Wrath and anger, these also are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them.” To sin means to miss the point; sinners are those who miss the target. Wrath and anger are a disgrace; these rip peace and joy apart. Maybe this is the truth behind the old adage: “TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO FORGIVE DIVINE.” Humans are weak; for this we need a JESUS who is a Savior. Jesus who is divine and became human gave us a third eye that sees beyond the natural and the ordinary.

FORGIVENESS is the heart of our Gospel reading today. Peter approached Jesus presenting his best card, but his best was not good enough for Jesus. The parable is a story challenging human standards. What matters is not paying back, but paying forward. The multiplication of goodness happens when goodness experienced is passed on forward. It is like a pebble that when thrown into the water, creates outside ripples. Jesus knows that humans have a higher call: to be WINDOWS to the HEART OF GOD.

#9 A JOKE FROM ST. JOE: “Every time I have a quarrel with my wife she becomes historic,” complained Joe to his friend Rey. His friend Rey tried to correct him. “Maybe you mean hysteric?" Joe responded: “No, not hysteric but historic. She tells me everything that I did wrong in chronological order, with the exact time and date that they happened.” Oh! Yeah! Does this happen to you...?

This third week of September starts with the Catechetical Sunday for all our teachers in our Religious Education and Formation in our Parish. On the 20th, we have the memorial of St. Andrew Kim Taegon and companion martyrs. On the 21st the feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist is celebrated. On the 22nd we begin the season of autumn, the start of our heavenly weather. And on the 23rd, we remember the great saint we call ‘Padre Pio’.

This is all for now,watch for the next bulletin.

Your Priest-Servant and Parochial Administrator,

Fr. Reggie