Imagine that we are all invited to a banquet at the home of Simon the Pharisee. Since Jesus will be there, we accept the invitation. As we sit at table with the Master, lo and behold, there enters the room a woman of the streets, a public sinner.
Clasped to her breast is a box of perfume. She is trembling like an autumn leaf. She seems to feel that the eyes of all are upon her. Staring at her beautiful, swaying body as she hesitates near the doorway, wondering what to do. Timidly, like a little girl on her first day at school, this fascinating creature tiptoes toward the table, raising her eyes for only a moment to see where Jesus is.
Espying Him, she rushes forward, sinks to the floor before Him, embraces His sacred feet, and, unable to restrain any longer the tenderness in her heart, she bursts into tears--tears of sorrow for her sins, tears of hope for pardon, tears of sweetness, the sweetness of being near the Lord, tears of gratitude, of a troubled heart finding peace, tears so abundant that they flow like water to wash the feet of the Savior. She wants to speak, to beg His pardon, to thank Him. But her lips tremble so that she cannot pronounce a word. Her tears have to do the talking.
What a picture--infinite Innocence, and infinite misery--Jesus and Mary Magdalene!
When the penitent has cried her eyes out, she knows not how to dry those feet wet with her tears. She sees no towel around, and her own garments she considers unworthy to touch the sacred person of Him. She thinks of her hair, her long beautiful braids, so much admired for their silkiness. She unclasps the fastenings, slips out the pins. The black mass of tresses, like a waterfall, tumbles over her face, hiding her flushed cheeks and her swimming eyes. With the flowing curls she slowly, tenderly dries the feet of her new-found Lord and Master, as tenderly as a young mother washes her first infant for the first time.
Then, opening the box of ointment, she pours its precious fluid over Christ's freshly washed feet. The odor of the ointment filled the house. Though finished with her task, Magdalene still feels unworthy to lift her head. Meanwhile the host says to himself, not aloud, but to himself:
"This man, were he a prophet, would surely know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner." St. Luke, 7:39.THY SINS ARE FORGIVEN
And He who can read hearts, read the heart of His host, and in answer told of a money-lender who had two debtors, one of whom owed a large amount of money, and the other a much smaller amount. The money-lender cancelled both debts. Jesus asked:
"Which of them therefore, will love him more?"Finally, turning to Mary Magdalene, stooping down to her, He speaks the sweetest words ever heard. Oh, we can see our Lord, we can even hear Him as He says:
"He, I suppose, to whom he forgave more," Simon answered.
"Thou hast answered rightly," declared Christ. And then, pointing to the woman at His feet, Jesus speaks:
"Her sins, many as they are, shall be forgiven her, because she has loved much." St. Luke, 6:47.
"Thy sins are forgiven."WHAT JOY
What joy in the heart of Magdalene! What peace, what delight, what rest in a soul restored to the friendship of God! Her sins are forgiven, washed away forever. Again her heart is pure and clean and happy. For all this peace, this inexpressible happiness, she must thank the God-man, the loving, forgiving Master, Jesus Christ, He who had come from heaven to bring forgiveness, to win forgiveness for all.
JESUS OFTEN FORGAVE SINS
While Jesus walked this earth He often forgave sins. Not only to Mary Magdalene did He say, "Thy sins are forgiven," but to the woman taken in adultery, and to the man sick of the palsy. Despite the objections and criticisms of the Jews, Jesus forgave sins. We call our Lord "The forgiving Christ."
That same power of forgiving sins Christ gave to His apostles and to their successors, the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church, in the words:
"Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them." St. John, 20:21.TWO CONDITIONS
The sinner must do his part. Christ laid down two conditions for forgiveness. We cannot be forgiven unless, first, we are sorry and confess our sins to a priest, and secondly, unless we forgive others. The necessity of telling our sins to the priest in confession is seen from the fact that he cannot forgive some sins and not forgive others, unless he knows what those sins are. Forgiveness of others Christ always demanded.
CHRIST FORGAVE INJURIES
Truly new and difficult was this command of Christ: "Forgive. . . Forgive. . . Forgive." Yes, even seventy times seven times a day. Until Christ's day men were taught to hate their enemies, to render black eye for black eye, broken tooth for broken tooth. Christ commanded us to put away all hatred, all revenge, all grudges, all resentment, all bitterness. He insisted that we do good to our enemies, that we pray for those who persecute us, that we forgive those who injure us. Just because forgiveness is so difficult and at the same time so necessary, Christ preached it so often, even with His dying breath:
"Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." St. Luke, 6:37.OUR FATHER
Nowhere is His command more clear than in the Our Father, when we pray: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us."
How often we say that prayer? Each time we ask God to forgive us as we forgive others. If we really prayed those words our conduct would be more like that of Christ. Like Him, we would always forgive. Remember, we are passing sentence on ourselves with those words. We ask God to forgive our offenses just as we forgive offenses against us. As our Lord once declared:
"For if you forgive their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you your offenses. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your offenses." St. Matthew, 6:14.We make the conditions. Down deep in our hearts we all realize that to forgive is the more reasonable, the more Christ-like course to take. Everybody hates an unforgiving person; one cannot help liking the person who is ever willing to pardon. To err is human; to forgive, divine. Even the pagans realized this.
CAESAR FORGIVES
Many years before Christ's birth a certain Roman named Marcellus had offended the emperor Caesar, Caesar, the ruler of all the world. The offender was brought before the offended emperor. A famous Roman lawyer, Cicero, pleaded with Caesar:
"August Emperor, thy conquests are many and great, but if you forgive Marcellus you have gained your greatest conquest, a victory more honorable, more praiseworthy than all your success in battle. Why? Because to forgive Marcellus would be a victory all your own; it is a most difficult conquest too; it would excite more admiration and gratitude among the Romans than your triumphs on the field of battle."Thus spoke a pagan to a pagan. Need I tell you that Caesar forgave Marcellus? Will we let a pagan put us to shame? Will we let a heathen who never heard of Christ be more Christ-like than ourselves who claim to be followers of the forgiving Christ?
CHRIST'S COMMAND AND EXAMPLE
Though forgiveness was not unknown before Christ, it was our Lord who gave us the strict command and the best example of forgiveness. Remembering that Jesus was God as well as man, take a glance at the insults He received. His enemies whipped Him; they spat on Him; they struck Him in the face; they nailed Him to a cross.
As God, our Savior could have destroyed His tormentors on the spot. Instead He cried out:
"Father, forgive them."That cry still rings in the heart of the true Christian. It rises in the heart, quivers on the tongue, it bursts from the lips of every worthy follower of Jesus. Be a real Christian. Learn to pray: "Father, forgive them."
MANY FOLLOWED CHRIST
We have many stirring stories of Christians who learned from Christ to forgive. There was a valiant knight, Hildebrand, who was seriously insulted by one of his companions, Bruno. Hildebrand swore revenge. After weeks of planning he decided to get his revenge on a certain night. He took several guns and started for a lonely spot where he knew Bruno would pass. On the way he passed a chapel. Hildebrand noticed the door was open. He entered to await the time for his victim's arrival. He whiled away the time by looking at paintings. Three pictures caught his attention.
The first showed our Lord clothed with the scarlet cloak and crowned with thorns. Beneath were the words: "He returned not insult for insult."
The second picture represented our Lord tied to the pillar and wincing under the whips of His tormentors. Below he read the words: "When He suffered thus He threatened not."
The third scene was of our Lord on the cross, dying in agony. It bore this inscription: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
The knight was struck to the heart. He sank to his knees and prayed. Gradually his hatred disappeared. He waited for his enemy, not to kill, but to extend the hand of forgiveness.
During Lent we also look at pictures of our suffering Savior, especially in the way of the cross. Every time we stop at a station and behold the agonies of Christ, we must be determined to live worthy of our forgiving Lord.
FALSE FORGIVENESS
Two Irishmen, neighbors, had a lifelong quarrel. One of them took seriously sick. His wife called the priest and explained to him: "Father, Pat has been fighting with Mike Murphy for years. Pat's going to die. Can't you patch up their quarrel?"
After more persuasion the priest induced the dying Pat to call in Mike for a reconciliation. In a few minutes Mike was at the bedside. He suggested: "Let's make up, Pat. Let bygones be bygones."
Pat agreed, rather reluctantly. Mike prepared to leave. As he approached the door, Pat raised himself on one elbow in bed, and, shaking his other fist at Murphy, he shouted: "Remember, Mike, this counts only in case I die."
Too often that is the way we forgive - only in case we die. Well we know that we will never be forgiven unless we forgive. But our forgiveness is often false and insincere.
STREET OF LOVE
By way of contrast we take you to the Street of Love in Bologna, Italy. It received its name years ago from an incident in which the forgiving love of Christ triumphed over a mother's grief at the loss of a child.
There lived on this street a widow woman and her only child, a healthy, happy boy who was the joy of her life. One afternoon as the lad was playing in front of the house, a strange man came by. He interfered with the boy's games and made teasing remarks. The boy spoke up in protest. The stranger, either under the influence of drink or of anger, or of both, whipped out a small sword and stabbed the boy.
Coming to his senses, the murderer rushed into the nearest house, ran upstairs, and begged the lady he met there to hide him. The sight of the bloody sword sent shivers through the good woman who, nevertheless, took pity and found him a hiding place.
A few minutes later her boy's body was carried in. You can imagine that poor mother's feelings as she hung grief-stricken over her dead child, knowing that his murderer was in the same house. Grief and revenge and forgiveness fought for the first place in her agonized heart. At last the will of God won.
As the police pounded at her door, she went to meet them with these calm words: "I give you permission to search my house. Look for yourselves. See if you can find him."
But the police could not find the criminal, so well had she hidden him in her home. As darkness came, the heroic Christian mother brought food and drink to the killer and told him how to escape. Her parting words to him were these: "May God forgive you the same as I do."
Surely God would forgive that saintly woman herself, because she had fulfilled in an heroic way the first condition of forgiveness, namely, forgiving others.
The other condition is that we confess our sins to God's duly authorized ambassador, the priest. Oh, there are those who cannot and will not understand how Christ forgives sinners today, just as there were some who could not and would not understand how Christ forgave sinners when He walked this earth. Our Lord even had to work a miracle by healing the body of the paralytic, in order to prove His power to heal the man's soul of sin.
Is it reasonable to say that Christ forgave sins while He dwelt on this earth, but that you and I living nineteen centuries later, could not have our sins forgiven in a certain, definite and unquestionable way?
WE WANT FORGIVENESS
There are thousands of people who have ghosts of sins haunting their hearts. They would give anything, even life itself, to have those sins washed away. Often they have confessed to themselves in the privacy of their homes and hearts, but they want to tell it to someone else, yet be as if it were not told. They want to hear definite, official word of forgiveness. They want to talk to some soul physician who will understand, who will guide and correct and direct their wayward wills. They want to hear, as Mary Magdalene heard, the words that take away their sins: Thy sins are forgiven.
DYING NON-CATHOLIC
This story illustrates this desire for forgiveness. A non-Catholic, a very conscientious fellow, was near death. He sent for his minister to whom he confessed his sins in a general way. When the minister declared: "All-right, God has forgiven your sins," the sick man was not satisfied.
"I want you to forgive my sins," he told the minister, "for we read in the Bible, 'whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them.'"
The minister explained that he had not the power. The sick man called for a Catholic priest and asked him whether he had the power to forgive sins.
"Why, yes," the priest replied, "Christ gave it to me."
The man begged to be received into the Church. He made an act of perfect contrition, received absolution and a few days later died in perfect peace.
Like that dying man everyone of us wants to be sure that his sins are forgiven. We have that certainty in the Catholic confessional. There are certain conditions:
1. We must examine our conscience or think of our sins.Christ is present in every tabernacle of the Catholic Church. But in another sense Christ is present in every confessional of the Catholic Church. In the person of the priest Christ is present there in that little house of mercy. There Christ listens to you as He listened to Mary Magdalene. There Christ's heart goes out to you as it went to Mary Magdalene. There Christ's words of forgiveness are spoken again to a sinner of today. There the peace and joy and calm that Magdalene received, you also receive.
2. We must tell God that we are sorry. That is absolutely necessary for a good confession. You must be sorry.
3. We must make up our minds that we will try to do better. This firm purpose of amendment is also essential to a good confession.
4. We must tell our sins to a priest. Mortal sins we must tell - their kind and their number. We may also confess our venial sins.
5. We must perform the penance assigned by the priest. These five conditions we might remember by putting them on the five fingers of one hand. With that hand we reach out for the forgiving hand of God.
Who can measure the countless benefits of this God-given sacrament, the peace-bringing, heart-easing, soul-uplifting gift of mercy?
How many souls have been set on the right track; how many families have been kept together; how many stolen dollars have been restored; how many hidden habits of sin have been broken; how many lives have been unburdened of unbearable loads of worry and sin! This - only God can tell. And over it all is the seal of sacred secrecy.
The forgiving Christ lives with us - even today. Amen.
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Adapted from With Christ Through Lent
by Fr. Arthur Tonne, OFM (©1951)
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