The Courage to Forgive:

 

The Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time 2026 

September 13, 2026

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Sirach 27:30-28:7; Psalm 103; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35

 

 

The first line of the first reading is jarring, “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet we hug them tight.” With the Gospel imperative, we are not in a place to forgive until we tend to the open wound that will not heal. For each person this wound is different. Something happens to violate us whether it is rejection, betrayal, humiliation, injustice, abandonment, loss, or being treated as insignificant. We have to see that the wound is painful and it is caused by someone else’s actions. Some measure of balance or stability has been taken from us. 

 

What are some of the fears that we deal with when we are wounded? We fear being hurt again or more deeply. We fear losing control or being disregarded or discarded. We fear being fundamentally rejected or exposed as weak or vulnerable, or we fear losing something or someone important. What is our response? We act out in anger. We nurture anger.

 

We can see anger as a positive indicator. It tells us that there is an imbalance in the status quo, that something is wrong, or something needs to be corrected. Anger is not sinful. It is not evil. It is our soul’s way of telling us that we need to pay attention and act to restore balance. Experiencing anger is good or at least neutral. Nurturing anger is where the problem arises.

 

We do we do in our mind? We replay the injury or rehearse what happened or we think about what we should have said or done. We build a case against the person who hurt us. This injury becomes part of our identity. We build resentment and we move from a statement like, “You hurt me,” to “You are a person who deserves to suffer.” Your anger moves towards wrath and rage. You are now saying, “You must pay for what you have done.” This is where we lose sight of the larger goals of justice, compassion, or truth. We seek retribution or revenge. We then demonize the person and no longer see the person as human. The person is the personification of “wrong itself.”

 

Isn’t this what we do in our political world too? We no longer look at what one needs or how one is hurt. We want to hurt the other person and treat them as an enemy to be vanquished. The human heart has great power. If I can make you less than human, I do not have to feel again the pain that happened to me. Hate provides an illusion of power and it protects us from being vulnerable. 

 

Beneath it all is a person who does not know how to carry the hurt. What does Jesus tell Peter? He says explore the hurt underneath the anger. He wants his disciples to deal with human hurt and suffering. He calls them to name the wound they have experienced and face the associated fear. He wants them to acknowledge the injustice and release the person for the desire for revenge. Forgiveness recovers the humanity of the one who hurt you and allows God to heal what anger was trying to protect. Forgiveness never says the wound did not matter. It does. It hurts badly. Forgiveness tells us that the wound will not heal unless we examine it with Christ. Forgiveness tells us that the wound will not be allowed to determine the kind of person I want to become. 

 

Christian love requires vulnerability. Forgiveness and reconciliation require vulnerability. Justice requires us to remain open enough to see the other person as a human. It recognizes that both of us are remarkably fragile and need each other’s mercy. This work is not easy. We are called to forgive from the heart. Courage my friends. We can reshape the world if we have the courage to forgive.