“Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight,” Sirach proclaims. The Church is boldly reminding us through scripture today that if we desire Heaven, forgiveness is not an option, it is required. The parable in the Gospel illustrates clearly that we will be forgiven according to our own standard of forgiveness. This, honestly, frightens me. Forgiveness is hard, and I struggle with it.
Why must we do these things? Because while we are on this earth, we have the gift, and perhaps burden, of being able to change. Without getting into the philosophy and theology, our choices are, basically, locked in when we leave this world. This means that who we are for eternity is formed and shaped in this life. If we form ourselves to be wrathful, angry, hateful, lustful, prideful, etc., then we will suffer an eternity of these things, because we formed ourselves to love them in this life, and those with whom we share eternity will be like us. That’s not a pretty picture.
But if we strive to love God, if we form ourselves to be merciful, peaceful, loving, chaste, humble, etc., then this will fill our eternity, and those we share it with will be like us, and even more importantly, because we have formed ourselves to imitate God, we will share eternity with Him.
May our prayer today be that God shapes our hearts to be like this. May he fill us with His overflowing love. May we not allow anything or anyone in this world to become an obstacle to an eternity of mercy, love, peace, and joy.