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14 July, 2020. Tuesday of Week 15

14 July, 2020. Tuesday of Week 15

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1 comments
13 Sept 2026 – 24th Sunday, (A)
September 13 2026
Thara Benedicta
Key Message: When we refuse to forgive, we keep yesterday’s pain alive today. Let us forgive, hand the person over to Jesus, and get our happiness back!! Homily: Testimony: I was not able to forgive my mother-in-law, how ever much I tried. My thoughts used to recall her face doing the harsh things to me. One day while I was remembering the same face again and wondering how I could overcome this. I really wanted to forgive her fully. But my own thoughts were bringing them back, even though I didn’t want to. As I was wondering what to do, Mother Mary asked me to remember the first time I saw my mother-in-law. At that time her face was flowing with love. I liked her more than my husband. Now I focus only on her smiling face... the first time face overflowing with sweetness and I am filled with joy and peace. Now there is no bitterness in my heart whenever I think about her. There is a beautiful story about two monks who were travelling together. On their way they met a woman who was unable to cross a muddy road. One monk carried her across, placed her safely on the other side, and continued walking. After travelling for a long time, the second monk became upset and finally said, “You should not have carried that woman!” The first monk replied, “Brother, I put her down several hours ago. Why are you still carrying her?” Sometimes this is exactly what happens to us. Somebody hurt us five years ago. The person may have forgotten the incident. They may be happily sleeping at night. But we are still carrying them! We wake up thinking about them. We replay what they said. We imagine what we should have said. Sometimes we even have a second argument with them, in our mind! And this time we win!! But unfortunately, after winning the imaginary argument, we are still unhappy! Today's readings are telling us: Put the person down, because Jesus wants His child to be free. The takeaway from the first reading: Do not allow anger to rent a room in your heart: Sirach gives us very strong words: “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” What an interesting image! We normally hug the people we love. But Sirach says sometimes we hug our anger! Someone hurts us, and instead of releasing the hurt, we protect it. We remember every detail. “What day was it?” “Tuesday.” “What time?” “4:35 PM.” “What exactly did they say?” We can reproduce the entire conversation! Ask us what last Sunday's Gospel was??? We may need a little time. Ask us what somebody said to us seven years ago??? We have the complete transcript! Why? Because we have repeatedly replayed it in our mind. Every replay waters the seed of resentment. Eventually the person who hurt us may not even be present, but they are controlling our happiness. Don't give somebody who hurt you free accommodation inside your mind! Forgiveness is our decision to tell our dear Lord Jesus: “Lord, what happened was painful. But I refuse to allow this event to control the rest of my life. I place this person and this wound into Your hands.” Forgiveness does not mean pretending nothing happened. Forgiveness does not mean saying: “What they did was okay.” It may not have been okay. Forgiveness does not always mean immediately trusting the person again. Trust may have to be rebuilt. Also it does not mean remaining in an abusive or dangerous situation. Healthy boundaries, accountability and appropriate help may still be necessary. Forgiveness means: “I refuse to become a prisoner of what you did to me.” I surrender revenge to God. I will stop feeding hatred. Our emotions will take time to catch up with our decision. We may forgive today and feel the pain again tomorrow. Then forgive again. Not necessarily because the other person repeated the offense, but because the wound inside us needs further healing. The takeaway from the second reading: I belong to Jesus, not to my anger: St. Paul tells us: “Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's.” It means “I belong to Jesus.” Therefore my mind belongs to my Jesus. My mouth belongs to my Jesus and so on... Even the way I handle people who hurt me belongs to Jesus. When somebody insults us, our immediate thought may be: “I will show them who I am!” But today's second reading answers: Remember whose you are. I am the Lord's. Therefore before responding, I can ask: “Jesus, since I belong to You, how would You like me to handle this?” This is the path towards maturity...We don't allow somebody else's bad behaviour to decide our behaviour. If someone behaves badly toward us and we respond with the same hatred, now we have two people behaving badly! Our Lord Jesus wants the cycle to stop with us. Someone else's bitterness does not have to become our bitterness. The takeaway from the Gospel: Remember how much Jesus has forgiven us: Peter approaches our Lord Jesus and asks: “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Peter probably thought seven was a very generous number. Maybe he expected Jesus to say: “Peter! Outstanding! This is why I chose you!” Instead our Lord Jesus effectively tells him: keep forgiving “seventy-seven times.” Our Jesus is not asking us to maintain a forgiveness spreadsheet: “Number 75... number 76... Be careful, only one more left!” Our Lord Jesus is teaching that forgiveness should become the character of His disciples. Then He tells the story of a servant who owes his king an enormous debt that he cannot repay. The servant begs for mercy. The king forgives the debt. Imagine his happiness! He should have gone home dancing! But on the way, he meets another servant who owes him a much smaller amount. Suddenly he forgets the mercy he has just received. He grabs the man and demands: “Pay what you owe!” This is the heart of today's Gospel. Our Lord Jesus is telling us: Before looking at what somebody owes you, remember what God has forgiven you. The Cross changes the way we look at people who hurt us: Whenever forgiving someone becomes difficult, look at the Crucifix. Our Lord Jesus was betrayed, falsely accused, mocked, humiliated... And from that Cross He prayed: “Father, forgive them.” Jesus did not wait for everyone at Calvary to apologize before He began forgiving. This is the mercy we ourselves live by. Every time we go to Confession sincerely, our Lord Jesus does not say: “Again?” He forgives us. We come back with the same weakness. He gives grace again. We fall. He helps us rise. Once we realize how patiently Jesus has treated us, it becomes a little easier to become patient with somebody else. People who know they have received mercy become capable of giving mercy. Forgiveness gives us our happiness back: There is another beautiful reason Jesus asks us to forgive. Jesus wants us to be happy. Resentment is heavy. You cannot carry resentment for years without it affecting your peace. We may say: “I will never forgive that person!” But who loses sleep? We do. Who keeps replaying the incident? We do. It is almost like drinking bitterness ourselves and expecting the other person to become unhappy! Our Lord Jesus Christ says: “Give this person to Me. Let Me handle justice. You start living again.” Our heart becomes lighter. We will start feeling the peace inside our heart instead of bitterness. Tips and Takeaways: 1. Stop replaying the incident Whenever the old conversation starts playing again in your mind, think about the beautiful moments you enjoyed earlier with that same person. If you are not able to recall the good moments also, say: “My dear Jesus, I have already given this person to You. I refuse to water this hurt again.” Then intentionally move your thoughts elsewhere. 2. Pray one sentence for the person who hurt you You don't have to begin with a heroic prayer! Simply say: “My Lord Jesus, bless this person and heal my heart.” If necessary, start there every day. 3. Forgive before you feel like forgiving Forgiveness often begins as a decision. Feelings may take longer. Tell your Jesus: “Lord, I choose to forgive. Please bring my emotions into agreement with the decision I am making before You.” 4. Remember your own mercy account Before thinking about another person's failures, remember how many times Jesus has forgiven you. 5. Do not confuse forgiveness with removing every boundary Forgive from the heart, but where serious harm is involved, wisdom and appropriate boundaries may still be necessary. Maybe we have been carrying that person for months or even years...our Lord Jesus is telling us: “My child, you have carried this long enough. Give this person to Me.” The person who hurt you should not be allowed to steal your yesterday and your today and your tomorrow.
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2 comments
We Are Church
September 10 2026
Joe O'Leary
"80 per cent of the Christian electorate" -- a lot of US Christianity strikes me as deeply fake. I cannot imagine Irish Christians voting for Trump. The American tragedy reaches deeper than issues of war and peace, justice and equality, poor education -- there is a sickness in the American soul. Who can diagnose and describe this? Some Americans turn the mirror on themselves, but the majority sleepwalk deeper into spiritual and human decline. They may reject Trump for monetary reasons, but they have not interpreted the symptom that he represents.
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We Are Church
September 10 2026
Soline Humbert
Letter to The Irish Times (10 September 2026) Sir, – People of faith in Ireland, specifically Christians, should disassociate themselves from the racist, misogynist and warmongering policies of the US president Donald Trump while he is being hosted by the Irish Government on his forthcoming visit. The Trump administration has weaponised the gospel message to support his illegal and unjust attack on Iran and politicised it into a Christian white nationalism movement where immigrants fear for their lives. Trump is continuing to purvey his brand of Maga Christianity to entice the support of US Christians on whose support he depended in the 2024 presidential election, when he was backed by approximately 80 per cent of the Christian electorate. Approximately 60 per cent of Protestant voters favoured Trump while he was also supported by a majority of voting Catholics. Circumstances have changed, however, as Trump now has to contend with the strong critique of his policies and actions by Pope Leo. During the Palm Sunday Mass, Leo repudiated the absurd notion that the God he serves and worships heeds the call of warmongers. The pope said: “Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.” By joining the planned protests during Trump’s visit, people of faith, specifically Christians, have the opportunity to repudiate Trump’s perverted version of the gospel while encouraging US Christians to cease their support of a president whose policies contradict gospel values. – Yours, etc, BRENDAN BUTLER, Dublin 9
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Tina Beattie (from her Substack account): The Nativity of the Virgin Mary – A Neglected Tradition
September 8 2026
Seán Walsh
Happy birthday, Mary... A Palestinian girl - hardly more than twelve - bore a Child who would rock the world... Seán Walsh
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