Reflection on Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

September 13, 2026

Sirach 27:30-28:7, Psalm 103, Roma1-35ns 14:7-9, Matthew 18:2

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

Dear friends, you likely have this image somewhere in your memory:  a child eagerly reaches for as many colorful candies as possible from a jar.  In goes the little hand, grabbing a fistful of goodies and holding on to them determinedly!  If the child refuses to let go of the prize, the hand remains in the jar and the poor child is a prisoner of his own aching desire.  Only by letting go will the child be free!

We are like that child when we hold on to a strong, negative emotion like anger instead of letting it go. Letting go is an act of mercy—not only toward the other person, but toward ourselves as well.  We may not be able to control our first impulse of anger or jealousy, but how we respond to it is our responsibility.  Today’s readings urge us to forgive as God does, since we, too, need to receive the Lord’s mercy.

When we choose to savor the sweet idea of wrath or revenge, it can turn to poison in our system like the sugar in the child’s candy.  Allowing a negative emotion to fester within us is like letting a toxin build up in our own body while hoping that the person who angered us will suffer.

The beautiful and common sense wisdom of the book of Sirach reminds us to consider what we can expect from the Lord if we withhold mercy from another person.

Moreover, in the Gospel parable of the unforgiving servant, Jesus clearly warns his disciples that if they withhold forgiveness from another, they cannot expect God to act otherwise with them.  After the wicked servant, already generously forgiven by his master, was without mercy for his fellow servant, the master handed him over to the torturers until he paid back the full debt. What we do to others does affect us in the long run.  After all, doesn’t each of us owe God thanks, and the kind treatment of our fellows, for His amazingly generous treatment of us?

Forgiveness is ours and the grace to forgive others, if we ask and keep asking.  When the memories of old injuries surface, we can use those occasions to thank God for his bountiful mercy towards us, and to pray for whoever has hurt us.

To forgive others sets our souls free, and the sweet peace that enters in is a foretaste of the joy of heaven, where all of us forgiven sinners hope to rejoice together forever.

Not according to our sins does he deal with us,

nor does he requite us according to our crimes.