(13.09.2026) 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Scripture Readings: Sirach 27:30—28:7 | Romans 14:7–9 | Matthew 18:21–35

Central Theme: Finding freedom from the poison of anger by recognizing God’s ownership of our lives and embracing radical forgiveness, inspired by the saints.

The Price of a Grudge

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Have you ever noticed that carrying a grudge is a lot like paying rent for someone who isn't even living in your head? It is exhausting.

Today's scriptures address the heavy emotional baggage we all carry. Sirach warns us that anger and wrath are hateful things, and when we refuse to forgive, we are like a person who tries to send a package using an invalid tracking number. We are getting nowhere fast.

In the Gospel, Peter tries to be generous. He asks, "Lord, how often must I forgive my brother when he sins against me? As many as seven times?" In Jewish culture, three times was considered ample. Seven times was saintly.

But Jesus completely shatters Peter's calculation. "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times." This is not a math problem; it is a mindset. Jesus is telling us that we cannot stop forgiving until we stop needing to be forgiven.

2. Humor: The Anatomy of a Grievance

Let's be honest about our anger. Often, our grievances are not over life-or-death issues. They are over things like:

 * "Why did you use my coffee mug when you knew it was my designated day to use it?"

 * "Yes, you said 'I love you' back to me, but did you mean it? You only texted me a single 'I love you' emoji instead of the usual double 'I love you' heart. I'm taking that as a declaration of war."

 * "My children left their shoes in the middle of the hallway for the third time today. I am not angry; I am merely experiencing a sudden, overwhelming urge to invent an entirely new category of 'mild-to-moderate' parental insanity."

Sometimes, we hold onto small irritations until they become giant spiritual blockages. We need to remember that God's grace can dissolve a mountain of debt, and we are usually upset about a molehill of a mistake.

 3. Everything Belongs to God: The Real Debt

We hold onto anger often because we feel a sense of ownership. We feel like our time, our reputation, our feelings, or our property has been stolen or violated. We feel like the debt is ours to collect.

But Saint Paul flips this script in our second reading from Romans: "None of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord."

This is a massive spiritual paradigm shift. If my life is not my own, then the debts owed to me are not mine either. They are owned by God. My reputation belongs to God. My peace of mind belongs to God. My time belongs to God.

If Everything belongs to God, then it is not my job to be the cosmic bill collector. God has already handled the largest bill that was ever past due—our own sin—at the Cross. My job is not to collect the debt; my job is to offer the receipt of grace that I have already received.

4. Creativity: Turning the Poison into a Prescription

Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. Forgiveness is not about saying "it is okay," nor is it about letting someone "off the hook." Forgiveness is about taking the sharp spiritual poison out of your heart.

We often imagine that we are being strong when we are angry. But the real strength is not in building a wall around our hurt; the real strength is in building a bridge across it. The poison is anger; the prescription is grace.

Jesus gives us a vivid parable of a wicked servant who was forgiven a massive, unpayable debt (10,000 talents—enough to build a small empire) but immediately went out and choked a fellow servant who owed him a small fraction (100 denarii—a few weeks’ wages). The absurdity is meant to reveal our own hypocritical spiritual finances. If God has canceled our massive mortgage, how can we demand repayment of a small spiritual credit card bill from our neighbor?

5. Examples of Radical Forgiveness: The Lives of the Saints

If the call to forgive "seventy-seven times" sounds impossible, we need look no further than the remarkable lives of the saints who made this call their mission.

St Rani Maria

We recall Blessed Rani Maria, a young religious sister working with the poor in Indore, India. In 1995, she was brutally attacked and murdered on a bus by Samundar Singh. As she was being stabbed over fifty times, her dying words were not an accusation, but a prayer of forgiveness: "Jesus! Jesus!"

Her sister, Sister Selmy Maria, eventually visited Singh in prison. Instead of looking for revenge, she tied a 'Rakhi'—a traditional thread of sisterhood—around his wrist, declaring that her family had forgiven him. Through this radical act, Singh himself was completely transformed and became a dedicated servant of Christ's love, eventually finding forgiveness from Sister Rani Maria’s family and the entire Church. She proved that love is stronger than murder.

 St Maria Goretti

And we look to Saint Maria Goretti, a twelve-year-old Italian girl who was brutally attacked and stabbed in 1902 by Alessandro Serenelli when she refused his advances. Before she died the next day, her first words when asked about Serenelli were: "Yes, for the love of Jesus, I forgive him. And I want him to be with me in Paradise."

Alessandro, like Singh, was unrepentant at first. But through Maria's final words of forgiveness, he eventually had a conversion in prison. After his release, he traveled to meet Maria's elderly mother. Maria's mother embraced the man who had murdered her daughter, declaring that if God and Maria could forgive him, she could too. Later, Serenelli attended the canonization Mass of Maria Goretti, standing beside her family, as a testament that forgiveness can turn an enemy into a saint.

6. Self-Reflection and Conclusion

As we prepare to receive the Holy Eucharist today, let us quietly ask ourselves:

 1. Who is the person in my life that I have been "choking" to collect a debt from?

 2. Do I truly believe that every part of my life—including my reputation and my feelings—belongs to God, and I should leave the debt collection to Him?

 3. Am I willing to ask God for the grace to offer the same "honey" of grace to others that I have already received a "barrelful" of from Him?

My dear friends, today Jesus is not just offering us crumbs of His mercy. He is offering us the whole Bread of Life. Forgiveness is not a weakness; it is the ultimate spiritual strength. Let us receive His grace, lay down our heavy bags of debt, and walk forward in the freedom of Christ's love.

Amen.