Reading 1
Sir 48:1-14
Like a fire there appeared the prophet Elijah
whose words were as a flaming furnace.
Their staff of bread he shattered,
in his zeal he reduced them to straits;
By the Lord’s word he shut up the heavens
and three times brought down fire.
How awesome are you, Elijah, in your wondrous deeds!
Whose glory is equal to yours?
You brought a dead man back to life
from the nether world, by the will of the LORD.
You sent kings down to destruction,
and easily broke their power into pieces.
You brought down nobles, from their beds of sickness.
You heard threats at Sinai,
at Horeb avenging judgments.
You anointed kings who should inflict vengeance,
and a prophet as your successor.
You were taken aloft in a whirlwind of fire,
in a chariot with fiery horses.
You were destined, it is written, in time to come
to put an end to wrath before the day of the LORD,
To turn back the hearts of fathers toward their sons,
and to re-establish the tribes of Jacob.
Blessed is he who shall have seen you
And who falls asleep in your friendship.
For we live only in our life,
but after death our name will not be such.
O Elijah, enveloped in the whirlwind!
Then Elisha, filled with the twofold portion of his spirit,
wrought many marvels by his mere word.
During his lifetime he feared no one,
nor was any man able to intimidate his will.
Nothing was beyond his power;
beneath him flesh was brought back into life.
In life he performed wonders,
and after death, marvelous deeds.
Gospel
Mt 6:7-15
Jesus said to his disciples:
“In praying, do not babble like the pagans,
who think that they will be heard because of their many words.
Do not be like them.
Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
“This is how you are to pray:
‘Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy Kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.’
“If you forgive others their transgressions,
your heavenly Father will forgive you.
But if you do not forgive others,
neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.”
Meditation: Matthew 6:7-15
If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. (Matthew 6:14)
Jesus’ teaching is clear: To be forgiven, we must first forgive. Of course, we all know how difficult it can be to forgive when we or our loved ones have been hurt or betrayed. But at the same time, we know that nothing is impossible with God. He is more than able to give us the grace we need to forgive.
The story of Immaculée Ilibagiza is one modern-day demonstration of this truth. In 1994, Immaculée was a twenty-four-year-old Rwandan college student home on Easter vacation when she and her family were forced to flee from mobs of ethnic Hutus on a killing rampage. The killers, who were hunting down ethnic Tutsis, were neighbors and friends with whom she had grown up. Immaculée hid for three months with seven other Tutsi women in a cramped bathroom. Most of her time was spent in prayer, fingering her father’s rosary, praying the Our Father. She knew that God did not want her to harbor the hatred and anger that she felt against her would-be killers—even as she heard them searching for her on the other side of the bathroom wall.
She begged the Lord to help her to forgive. But how could she possibly forgive people who would do such things? Immaculée put that question to the Lord, and after several days of intense prayer, she heard God say to her: “You are all my children.” These words, as well as her experience of God’s overwhelming love, allowed Immaculée to pray for the killers and ask God to forgive them. After the genocide, Immaculée traveled to her home village and personally forgave the man in prison who had slaughtered her mother, father, and two brothers.
If you have a hard time forgiving someone, go ahead and pray Immaculée’s prayer. Ask God to show you how to forgive. And don’t stop praying until he does! Remember that we will heal only to the extent that we are able to forgive. As we open ourselves to God’s infinite love, we can let his light shine on the most wounded parts of our soul—and then we are able to reflect God’s light back into a darkened world.
“Lord, I want to be as forgiving as you are. Only you can show me how. Touch my heart with your healing love.”
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