From - 'Seasons of the Word' (Fr. Denis McBride C.Ss.R.)

Nursing anger

Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States,was elected to office on an anti-slavery ticket, an election that precipitated the American Civil War. In 1863 Lincoln issued a proclamation freeing Southern slaves, and two years later masterminded the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery anywhere in the United States. Lincoln was opposed to all forms of slavery, not least people becoming slaves of their own anger and resentment.

Lincoln’s secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, had some trouble with a major general who accused him, in abusive terms, of favouritism. Stanton complained to Lincoln, who suggested that he write the officer a sharp letter. Stanton did so, and showed the strongly worded statement to the president, who applauded its powerful language.

“What are you going to do with it?” he asked. Surprised at the question, Stanton said: “Send it, of course.” Lincoln shook his head. “You don’t want to send that letter,” he said. “Put it in the stove. That’s what I do when I’ve written a letter when I am angry. It’s a good letter and you had a good time writing it and feel better. Now, burn it and write another.”

Lincoln could have been following the advice in today’s first reading, which underlines the futility of
vengeance: If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?
Showing no pity for a man like himself, can hethen plead for his own sins?

Nursing anger or cherishing resentment is dangerous for our health, indeed fatal: it disables us and renders us defenceless when we look for our own sins to be forgiven.

Forgiveness without limit
In today’s Gospel Matthew continues to deal with relations between Christians, focusing on the need for forgiveness between members of the community. Peter asks Jesus how often he should forgive his brother, then answers his own question by suggesting seven times. The Jewish tradition taught that God forgives three times and punishes on the fourth occasion; it was not believed that injured people could be more gracious than God, so forgiveness was limited to three times. According to that tradition Peter’s measure is generous; but according to Jesus it is radically insufficient. In his reply Jesus reverses the old law of vengeance:

“Sevenfold vengeance is taken for Cain, but seventy-sevenfold for Lamech” (Genesis 4:24).
Just as in the old days there was no limit to hatred and vengeance, so among Christians there is to be no limit to mercy and forgiveness.

The parable of the unforgiving official is told in order to underline the need for forgiveness. When a king calls his court officials to audit the accounts, one shows a deficiency of ten thousand talents, a colossal sum of money. The sum is deliberately extravagant, running into millions of pounds, to heighten the contrast with the few pounds owed to the official. When the king orders the sale of the debtor and his family into slavery, the official pleads for time. The king feels sorry for him and decides to remit the whole of the vast debt. The official, however, learns nothing from his experience, for he refuses to give a colleague time to pay a trifling debt; instead, he has him thrown into prison. When this heartless behaviour is reported to the king, the grant of full forgiveness is retracted and the unforgiving official is thrown to the torturers.

Remembering to forgive
Apart from anything else, the unforgiving official is condemned for loss of memory. Forgetfulness of our own sins leads to lack of compassion; remembering how our sins have gone unpunished by God should lead us to forgive others. Through forgetfulness of God’s compassion, we can end up becoming cruel to each other. That is why at the beginning of each Eucharist we are invited to be mindful of our own sins. Only when we do that can we pray the “Our Father”: “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”.

The purpose of calling our sins to mind is not to paralyse us, but to remind us that we all live in the gracious forgiveness of God. To forget that is theological suicide. Whoever we are, we remember our sins because we need to remember always to forgive.