St. John Cantius Church, Philadelphia issued the following announcement on September 13.

Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.” From our first reading today, from the Book of Sirach 

The responsorial psalm tells us: The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion. 

The Gospel of Matthew shows Peter asking and the Lord responding “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. And finishes with these words: So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” 

I sense a theme here, do you? 

Today’s readings made us realize how hard it is to forget things we think we’ve forgiven, like being bullied, or lied to, or cheated on or a myriad of other offences that happen to us daily. “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.” 

It’s something all of us need to work on. You don’t get through life without hurting others and being hurt. It’s easy to SAY you forgive someone but actually DOING it (if you’re honest with yourself) is another matter. 

One of the most useful models for forgiveness that I have encountered comes from AA, the step where the person in recovery makes amends to everyone they have hurt. It’s healing for both parties as I discovered when someone I am extremely close to went through the process. 

You don’t have to be in a 12- step program to do it – just a simple note or phone call can help heal a broken relationship if both parties are open to it. 

It helps to recognize that we can become better, deeper, and more compassionate people from experiencing the hurts others inflict on us. Would I have the inordinate number of amazing friends who have blessed my life if grade school hadn’t been so awful? Would my marriage be infinitely better if I had been more truthful to my spouse? Would I still have that job or career if I had just learned to control ... better? Who knows, but we must trust that “God writes straight with crooked lines.” 

If nothing else, we almost always feel better when we try to forgive and forget rather than cherishing favorite grudges. We know that God is merciful and understands our struggles so we’re not doing this unassisted. 

Just a friendly reminder that beginning this weekend, we have now changed to our winter schedule of Masses, 

5 pm Saturday Vigil in English,

and 11:30 am Mass in Polish.  

The 10 am and 11:30 am Masses will be livestreamed on our Parish Facebook page. 

As we continue on this journey, we call life, please be assured of my prayers and Father Konstanty’s prayers for you and your families and remember to pray for each other and for those who are sick in our parish and family communities. 

I wish a Happy Birthday, Blessed Anniversary and Joyous Jubilee to all celebrating this week. 

May God Bless you and keep you in the Palm of His hand. 

Fondly,

Fr. Mark Kunigonis

Original source can be found here.