The Vocation to Forgiveness - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

In a recent homily published by the USCCB Pro-Life Secretariat, Bishop Finn connected the devotion of Divine Mercy to the issue of capital punishment, making the case that our vocation is to imitate God's mercy in our lives and our laws. Our society's use of the death penalty does not lead us to this vocation of mercy and should therefore be abandoned. Some in the Church find this teaching difficult: the authoritative statements of Pope John Paul II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church fail to convince them. Perhaps a consideration of this week's scripture texts for Mass may provide additional light on our Christian vocation to forgiveness and mercy.

The first reading points to the worst possible sin for the people of Israel. After experiencing the mercy of God in being released from the slavery of Egypt, the Israelites craft a false god and worship it while Moses is in communion with God on Mount Sinai. Rather than punishing the people with death, God spares the people, and Moses provides us with an example of a godly leader who seeks mercy for people so that they might be brought closer to God.

The responsorial psalm is the famous "Miserere" prayer of David after committing the double sin of killing Uriah and then having an adulterous relationship with Uriah's wife Bathsheba. David implores God's mercy upon him, and God does spare David's life. This experience of God's mercy led David to compose songs of praise to God and to be the most just leader Israel would ever have.

In the second reading Paul relates to Timothy the great mercy God has bestowed upon him. Paul had first been a blasphemer who persecuted the young Christian community, and yet neither God nor the early Christians sought his death. Instead, God comes to Paul in a vision and brings Paul to conversion. What is more, the Christian community, though initially skeptical, accept Paul into their midst and he goes on to become the great Apostle to the Gentiles.

In these three examples we might consider the outcome if God had not chosen to have mercy: Israel would not have experienced the great events of salvation history; David's reign would not have passed to Solomon and the subsequent ancestry that leads to the birth of Jesus; Paul would not have had his productive ministry that brought the light of salvation to many nations.

As great as these acts of mercy were, none compares to the mercy shown in the parable of the Prodigal Son. In asking for his inheritance in advance, the younger son essentially desires his father's death, the worst possible shame that a child can inflict upon a parent. Despite this indignity, the father gives the son the inheritance, and the son in turn squanders the money on sinful living. The culture of the day would have seen the son disowned by the father, but in this story the father seeks out his lost son and restores him to his household. What is more, the father does not reject the indignant older son, telling the older son that he has a place in the house always.

The parable, of course, is about God's mercy to us, and so too are the other readings. The Church in her wisdom places these readings before us today for us to consider mercy in our own lives: is mercy something we seek for ourselves only, or do we recognize the obligation for us to live a life of mercy toward others? This obligation is not only personal in our individual dealings with others, but also it is an obligation to society in its dealings with people. The salvation of souls demands that we provide each individual every possible opportunity to encounter the merciful God.

The Eucharist is the memorial of the great act of God's forgiveness extended to us in the death and resurrection of Jesus. In receiving Holy Communion we hope to become what we eat - the very person of Jesus in our lives and actions, actions of mercy and love. And so we conclude our reflection by praying with the universal Church the prayer after communion for today's liturgy: "Lord, may the Eucharist you have given us influence our thoughts and actions. May your Spirit guide and direct us in your way. We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord. Amen."