23 February 2025 – 7th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)

by Fr Raymond Raj

Brothers and sisters, today I would like to talk about forgiveness, from the Gospel. Speaking of forgiveness, to forgive is to set a prisoner free. Write this in your heart today. To forgive simply means to set a prisoner free and to discover that the prisoner was you, no one else. To forgive somebody means to set a prisoner free and to discover that all these while, the prisoner was you, not the other person. It was you.

The greatest of forgiveness is the story of Pope John Paul II, now Saint John Paul II, forgiving his attempted assassin by the Mehmet Ali. On 13 May 1981, as Pope John Paul II was traveling in an open car through Saint Peter’s Square, Mehmet Ali, a Turkish man, fired 4 shots with his gun, with 2 shots striking the Pope’s lower abdomen. Mehmet Ali, the Turkish man, was immediately arrested, taken to custody and punished – life imprisonment, by the Italian Court. After two years, Pope John Paul II decided to visit him in prison. And most importantly Pope John Paul II forgave him, leading to Mehmet Ali’s release from prison.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, this is exactly what Christ himself would have done. During the scene of crucifixion, while Jesus was hanging on the cross, Jesus forgave all his assassins. Jesus begged His Father, ‘Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing.‘

So brothers and sisters, likewise in today’s Gospel, Jesus is calling us out to be compassionate, to be merciful to our opponents. Instead of taking revenge, Jesus calls us to love them, do good to them. By doing this only you will have a great reward, claiming the prize of becoming God’s children. By doing this only, which is forgiveness.

Brothers and sisters, it is often said, ‘Forgive and forget‘. But this term ‘forgive and forget’ is easier said than done. To forgive and forget is not easy. All of us, my dear friends, have the ability to forgive but to forget it is a question mark for everyone, including myself. Brothers and sisters, to forgive and to forget is the attribute of Divine, not human. Therefore brothers and sisters, the only thing you and I can do is to forgive and to do good to our opponents.

In the First Reading today, the message you and I ought to learn is:
The Lord repays everyone for his uprightness.

Though there was a power struggle between David and Saul, David spared Saul’s life for David fully believed ‘Do not lift your hand against the Lord’s anointed.‘ 

And today, if you watch around, you watch in the YouTube viral, people from the crowd running to the altar and smacking the priest. I hope you don’t do that to me. I am a taekwondo black belt second dan from military training, just for your info.

Brothers and sisters, in the midst of hatred and unforgiveness, in the midst of hatred, striking one another with words or even with actions, becomes a habit or routine for some of us. We think our actions are justified because my opponent has hurt me. Therefore I have all the right, I am justified to strike him back.

Brothers and sisters, David out of disappointment and hurt could have strike back Saul once and for all, ending this love-hate relationship. But David trusted God’s righteousness.

So my dear friends, in our family life, in our working life or in parish life for that matter, there are moments out of anger, out of disappointment, we strike one another. We choose to hurt one another. Of course, like any human being, we regret our actions later. But the injury will stay. That is why in Chinese they say, ‘You can fix a broken glass. You can fix it back, a broken glass, but that glass won’t be same again.‘

Likewise, my dear friends, relationship is like glass. You can break it, if you want out of anger. But it won’t be the same again.

Brothers and sisters in the Lord, my message to each one of you today is the message of Jesus Christ:-
Love your enemies, care for them. Most importantly, pray for your opponents.

At the end of the day, my dear friends, love conquers all. And love can only be experienced if there is forgiveness. If there is no forgiveness in your heart, there is no way for you to experience love.

And I leave you with these words to ponder over the weekend:
In scripture, if you read the scripture, Jesus tells us love your neighbour, pray for your enemy. Have you heard about it? Love your neighbour, pray for your enemy. 

Why Jesus says like that? Why?

Because, my dear friends, most of the time our neighbour and our enemy are the same person. 

Amen.

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