26 March 2019
Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
The call to forgiveness exists as one of the more difficult of the Christian virtues. The story from today’s gospel of the unforgiving servant packs a strong punch because of the disparity of the debt he owed that was forgiven as compared to what he demanded of others. Like the parable of the Prodigal son, the immensity of the erased obligations seems beyond our imagination, if not practicality. The radical nature of these stories derives from the idea that human nature has the possibility of being so forgiving in the face of what would be the just action. The extremeness of these stories indicate that Christian virtue transcends the dictates of justice. Justice indicates what is warranted by law, mercy redeems humanity back to its divine image. Perhaps our greatest act of resembling the divine is when we act mercifully as God does in the light of our own human weakness.