Podcast: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Hi and welcome to the Modern Psalmist Podcast for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. I’m Rebecca De La Torre.

Today we explore not only God’s infinite mercy, but especially God’s requirement that we be merciful also in our relationships with others. The readings today remind us how very compassionate and merciful the Lord expects us to be.

As we enter in to the sacred mass, our Entrance Antiphon opens with a plea to God to fulfill the words of the prophets and to hear the prayers of the people, setting a tone of trust and expectation in God’s mercy.

Taken from the Deuterocanonical book of Sirach 36:18, we pray:

“Give peace, O Lord, to those who wait for you,
that your prophets be found true.
Hear the prayers of your servant,
and of your people Israel.”

The psalm for today is attributed to King David and is from chapter 103:8:

“The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.”

This is love – kind, merciful, compassionate, slow to anger. This is our Lord. And what’s more, this is how *we* are called to be.

The Communion Antiphon continues to praise God’s great mercy. Taken from Psalm 36:8, we sing:

How precious is your mercy, O God!
The children of men seek shelter in the shadow of your wings.

So in the readings we’ve mentioned so far, God’s great mercy is continually extolled. In the other readings that I’m about to highlight, it is made very clear that *we* must embrace forgiveness, eschew vengeance, and love our neighbors as God loves us.

In the first reading from Sirach 28:7, we are reminded to:

“Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor;
remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults.”

And in the second reading from St Paul’s letter to the Romans, in chapter 14 verses 7 & 8, he tells us:

“None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.
For if we live, we live for the Lord,
and if we die, we die for the Lord;
so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.”

We are called to live in harmony with one another, united in the service of the Lord. And Jesus tells us specifically in the gospel acclamation from John 13:34:

“I give you a new commandment, says the Lord;
love one another as I have loved you.”

And in the gospel reading from Matthew chapter 18, Jesus makes it abundantly clear that we are expected to treat others with the same compassion and mercy that God shows us.

Peter specifically asks the Lord how many times we are to forgive someone who wrongs us. Jesus’ answer of “not seven times but seventy-seven times” isn’t to be taken literally. It’s meant to tell us to always forgive – because God always forgives us! And blessed be God for that!

To better illustrate this point, Jesus continues to give an analogy of the kingdom of God by telling a story of a man who had a great debt – so great that his debtor knew he couldn’t repay it and therefore decided to have him sold along with his *family* and everything he owns to pay back the debt.

But then, in verses 26 & 27 we read:

“At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.”

Take a moment tho think about this.

That man was about to be sold along with his wife and children. They would have been separated – potentially forever.

That’s devastating. And he was clearly in a bad place financially because he had such a large debt that he didn’t even have a way to repay it. And the master knew that.

But the master forgave him the loan and let him go. He just totally forgave the loan.

WE cannot repay our debt to God. We have transgressed time and time again and yet God continually forgives us.

But the story doesn’t end here, unfortunately. That same man, who was about to be sold and his life devastated comes across another servant that owed him “a much smaller amount.”

But instead of demonstrating even just a fraction of the same compassion he was shown by the master, he turns and has the man thrown in jail until he gets paid back.

The master gets wind of this, though, and in verses 32-35 the story concludes:

“His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?’
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” ”

We have to ask ourselves:

Who do we need to forgive in our lives?

What old grudges are we holding on to?

We can’t just show up at mass every Sunday without really reflecting on these scriptures and letting them work on us. This is serious stuff.

We have to forgive and be merciful to all around us – even our enemies! This is the love and mercy that God demonstrates to us.

ALL of us have been forgiven our mountain of debt when Jesus died on the cross for us.

ALL of us are commanded by God to love our neighbor – EVERY neighbor – as God loves us.

Just as the psalm says, we are to be “kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.”

“Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo”

These words in Latin mean “Forever I will sing of God’s mercy”.

They have been set to a beautiful Ostinato refrain by Jacque Berthier from the Taizé community. Here is my interpretation of this gorgeous song that I chose to use at all my masses this weekend.

Thanks for joining me on The Modern Psalmist podcast for the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year A. Check out the show notes for more information about all the featured songs.

Until next week, God bless you.