11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings
There are lyrics to an Andrew Lloyd Webber song that you may have heard me use before from his show Aspects of Love called “Love Changes Everything.” Here is one verse:
Love, Love changes everything:
days are longer, Words mean more.
Love, Love changes everything:
Pain is deeper than before.
Love will turn your world around,
and that world will last forever.
Yes, love, love changes everything,
brings you glory, brings you shame.
Nothing in the world will ever be the same.
And is it not true that love can make a day seem like it goes on forever, that the words we say take on new and unexpected meanings, that because of love the pain we experience is deeper, that love is the source of human glory, but can also lead to human tragedy as well. Whatever the case might be love truly changes everything in our lives.
Today, if we are going to talk about forgiveness than we need to talk about love: love that turns our world around and which lasts forever. However, if we are going to talk about forgiveness, than we also need to talk about the sacrament of reconciliation and the two beautiful prayers that we find: the act of contrition and the prayer of absolution.
Let’s look at the first prayer:
O my God,
I am heartily sorry for
having offended Thee,
and I detest all my sins,
because I dread the loss of heaven,
and the pains of hell;
but most of all because
they offend Thee, my God,
Who are all good and
deserving of all my love.
I firmly resolve,
with the help of Thy grace,
to confess my sins,
to do penance,
and to amend my life.
Amen.
First and foremost our sorrow has to come from our heart. Contrition itself means regret, an apology and repentance. This is not something that can be acted upon within ourselves, but must be expressed concretely to the person that we have hurt.
In the gospel of Luke today the woman shows an act of contrition:
“Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment,
she stood behind him at his feet weeping
and began to bathe his feet with her tears.
Then she wiped them with her hair,
kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment.”
She came to the only person who could bring her peace and healing and showed to Jesus genuine sorrow. What is even more important is that this woman expressed this sorrow not out of fear, but as Jesus tells us out of love. This is the key to forgiveness, this is the key to peace, and this is the key to healing…love!!
Even our Act of Contrition says that we are sorry for our sins because we are scarred of punishment, but most of all because our sins offend God who is all good and deserving of all our love.
That is the amazing revelation that sometimes we miss…we need to move from a relationship of fear to a relationship of love. We cannot be sorry just because we might get punished, like a child, but we must be sorry because we love the person that we have hurt, which is a mature response.
Think about it, as children it is all about avoiding the corner or going to our rooms or not watching television or playing video games, today it might be having our phones taken away and not being able to text or update our facebook page. As we grow and mature it becomes less about avoiding punishment and more about making amends with a person that we love and wanting to make things right.
Jesus calls us to that same development with God…it is not just about avoiding punishment, but the respect and love we should have for our heavenly Father.
It is because of the love the woman shows in today’s gospel that her sins are forgiven and the same must be true for us…approaching God out of love not fear.
That love transformed the woman’s life and forgiveness rooted in love can do the same for us so that we can confess our sins, do our penance and amend our lives as children of God.
If you are going to be a lover you need to be a forgiver, and thankfully God is the greatest lover of all, which brings us to our second prayer, the prayer if absolution:
God, the Father of mercies, through the death and resurrection of His Son has reconciled the world to Himself and sent the Holy Spirit among us for the forgiveness of sins; Through the ministry of the Church may God grant you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
The greatest lover of all knew how to bring forgiveness to the world: through the suffering, death and resurrection of his son. The cross of Jesus Christ stands as an everlasting concrete sign of God’s love that does not call us to fear, but to return that love through our lives. This is the forgiveness that the Church offers through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the forgiveness that we are called to receive as sons and daughters of God reborn through water and the Holy Spirit. Yet, like Simon in today’s gospel there are times that we do not recognize our own sinfulness or become a stumbling block for others.
Jesus says, “but the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.”
In other words, the sacrament of reconciliation is the doorway, the portal, the gateway to a greater love!!
Once we have known great forgiveness, we will know how to love greatly. Until then, our love is being held hostage.
Jesus proclaimed in the gospels, “I have come to give you life and have come to give it to you abundantly,” why then do we settle for something less?
The woman did not want to settle, she wanted abundant life and got it, she left with a peace that only the Lord could give.
Today what is being held out to each and every one of us is nothing less than sharing fully in the divine life of God himself: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Trinity: perfect love offering forgiveness so that we might be able to know that love in our own lives.
Yes, the woman cried.
Yes, the woman anointed.
Yes, the woman dried feet with her hair.
Yes, she was forgiven.
Yes, she was transformed.
Yes, she finally knew how to love.
Love not fear. Freedom not imprisonment. Joy not sorrow.
Isn’t time for reconciliation??!!
“Love will never ever let you be the same!”
May the Holy Spirit come and inflame ours hearts with such love. Thank you Fr. Mark for a superb homily.