a good memory of being forgiven - 24th Sunday A 2017

One of my most difficult duties as a rector is to decide whether to accept or to reject an applicant for the seminary, to decide whether to promote or to send out a seminarian from the seminary, and to decide whether to be lenient to an offending seminarian or to apply the full force of the rules and their consequences. 

One day 7 years ago a high school seminarian was caught cheating during their exams.  In the seminary cheating is a major offense and as sure as the sun will rise in the morning that seminarian had to be asked to transfer to other schools or in their way of saying it, he gets kicked out of the seminary.  He was called, his parents were called by the prefect of discipline and there were meetings.  But this boy did not give up and he came to my office and asked me to give him another chance, pleading, crying, just give me another chance and I will prove myself to you. 

And I asked him, why should I give you another chance?

And he said, “because you told us once that you were also given another chance and you proved your rector wrong.”

He was referring to my vocation story which I told them. I was also only 12 years old then just like the boy in front of me.  I was also rejected from the seminary.  Then probably tired of my persistent appeals the rector gave me another chance.  He said I am giving you 2 to 3 months of close supervision, after that if I cannot see improvements you’re out.  Well to make the long story short, 14 years later, in the class of 36 I was the only one who became a priest.  Yes, I was given another chance, and yes I proved my rector wrong about me and yes he was so happy he was wrong about me, he made me his assistant in his parish the year I became a priest.

That seminarian I was talking about who cheated during exams, he is still in the seminary 7 years later.  I remembered his story when he called up yesterday morning reporting to me what is happening in the seminary and how everything is doing fine without me.  He is the leader of the community and he has the duty to report to me while I am away.

This story is quite long because like our gospel these things are better illustrated by stories.  Jesus is not primarily telling us to forgive.  No, forgiveness may come later.  Like the steward who owed a large debt, that will be your choice, hopefully, later – to forgive others as you have been forgiven.  But primarily Jesus is telling us to recall our own experiences of forgiveness, to recall our stories when we too were given second, and third and fourth chances.  Savor and appreciate once more those experiences when everyone else gave up on you, and then one person stood up against everyone else, and gave you another chance.  Relish that experience again. We need these stories, we all need to recall them because our gospel is more than just a teaching on forgiveness, our gospel is more than just a command to forgive one another, rather it is an appeal to our common human experience that we are prone to commit mistakes, that we make bad decisions in life once in a while, that we can still right the wrong we have done, that we can still make amends if only we are given the chance. 

We have two new formators in the seminary, very young priests, talented priests to replace us.  They asked for advice and I told them, you are dealing with young people and you lose your cool once in a while, you get mad at them once in a while, you need to punish them taking away their privileges once in a while, but don’t hate them.  Because when we begin to hate them we can no longer form them, we are no longer giving them the chance they need, the trust they need, the courage they need, the push they need to become better.  If anything give them a good memory of being forgiven and how that forgiveness and restored trust can propel them to become the persons God wants them to become.

In Baptism, in the Eucharist we celebrate today, and in particular in confession, we basked as it were in the reality that God has forgiven us and continues to forgive us in Jesus, when he came to be judged in our place, to save us unworthy as we are.  Give your children too, your spouses, your communities and even your parents an experience of forgiveness they would cherish throughout their lives – we all need to experience being loved despite of, being accepted in spite of, being trusted despite being unreliable once.

And perhaps these experiences of compassion will make for a more compassionate and forgiving world – even if it takes one person at a time.