I come from a large extended family. My father has twelve siblings and my mom is the youngest of eleven children of my maternal grandparents. Before the 2016 presidential election, I always thought that my extended family drama maked American politics look tame. One of the traits of my extended family is that almost everybody is good at holding a grudge. My mom has not spoken with her two older sisters for many years and one of my dad’s sisters despised my other aunt and they never reconciled as one of them passed away recently. These stories are just small episodes of my family drama. I admit that I also have inherited the DNA of holding a grudge. Often times, I have difficulties forgiving people who have done things against me.
In the Gospel reading today, Jesus calls us to be merciful, just as our Father is merciful. Jesus does not stop here. He calls us to stop judging, stop condemning, and to forgive. As I reflect upon this Gospel passage, I realize that mercy and forgiveness is first of all God’s gift of grace. With my DNA, it is difficult for me to rely on my own effort alone to forgive others. Pope Benedict XVI once said, forgiveness is something that is first and foremost received. The Pope points out that if human beings put their salvation on their own righteousness, then no one could enter heaven. Only the righteousness of God can help human beings accomplish something that they could never accomplish by themselves.
In his Introduction to Christianity, Pope Benedict XVI states: “The calculatingly righteous man, who thinks he can keep his own shirt front white and build himself up inside it, is the unrighteous man. Human righteousness can only be attained by abandoning one’s own claims and being generous to man and to God. It is the righteousness of “Forgive, as we have forgiven”—this request turns out to be the proper formula of human righteousness as understood in the Christian sense; it consists in continuing to forgive, since the man himself lives essentially on the forgiveness he has received himself.”
The Holy Father sees that Christian faith has to do, first and foremost, with receiving forgiveness, and also with forgiving in turn. This is a response to the forgiveness that we already received. As we are walking our journey during lent, let us pray for the grace to forgive others and to be merciful to others. Let us pray that we will be able to receive the grace when it is given to us.