(Thursday of the 14th Week in Ordinary Time; This homily was given on 11 July, 2013 at St. Francis de Sales Church, North Kingstown, R.I. See Genesis 37-50)
One of the more beautiful and admirable attributes of the
saints—but also one that can be a bit dangerous if we are not careful—is their remarkable
willingness and even desire to forgive and make excuses for those who cause
them harm.
I say beautiful and admirable because it is an imitation of
Jesus Christ who, as he experienced the agony of the cross, prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not
what they do” (Luke 23:34). However plain it seems to us that these
persons knew precisely what they were doing, Christ challenges us in our
perceptions and cautions us not to judge the intentions we can never fully
know. He makes excuses for them and
expresses, even in the midst of his suffering, the desire that they be
forgiven.
But at the same time, to make excuses for those who do evil
can be dangerous. It can allow for its
continuation and perpetuate the sin.
Psychologists speak of codependency and the consequences of enabling
others to continue in their destructive behavior. Certainly Christ is not advocating that. It is a careful balance we must strike,
because we believe in a God of unfathomable mercy but also in a God of
justice.
A wonderful, and I would say also timely, example for us in
this careful balance between forgiveness and justice is Blessed John Paul II
(soon to be canonized St. John Paul II).
Shot at point blank range in St. Peter’s square in 1981, he nearly died
from that assassination attempt. Yet once
he had recovered enough to speak he broadcast a message to the entire world: “I
pray for that brother of ours who shot me, and whom I have sincerely pardoned.”
That brother of ours?
By no means was Blessed John Paul II
referring here to the fraternal bond of baptism. The assassin, Mehmet Ali Ajca, was not a
Christian. The Pope was simply referring
to this person’s dignity as one created in the image of God and, in a certain
sense, making excuses by separating the man from the act of destruction he had
so deliberately carried out. What is
often missed in John Paul’s offer of forgiveness and his subsequent pastoral
visit to “this brother of ours” is the fact that Blessed John Paul II was in
total agreement that Ajca, who had already taken the life of a journalist, be locked
up in jail!
We believe in forgiveness and mercy, but also that dangerous
criminals should be kept off the streets.
We are not blind to the fact that
those who have committed heinous crimes owe a debt to society; their acts of
violence have penal ramifications.
Why do I mention these things this morning? Firstly, they are important for us to reflect
on because every single one of us, at one time or another, has been hurt by the
words or actions of others. What does
forgiveness mean for us, and how should we pursue it? On a broader level, as recent as this morning
our newspapers display criminals who have committed acts of violence against
innocent people; the call for justice, even retribution, echoes from the radio
and television news stations daily. As
Christians we are called to embrace forgiveness and mercy but by no means are
we to forget the demands of justice and the responsibility to make the world a
safer place. It is not easy to discern
how we should respond to the demands of the Gospel, which Christ and saints
like John Paul II have modeled so well for us.
In our first reading this morning, however, the patriarch Joseph teaches
us beautifully how to begin.
We are all familiar with the Old Testament story of
Joseph. Sold into slavery by his jealous
brothers, they scarcely held themselves back from killing him outright. Joseph suffered greatly during his sojourn in
the land of Egypt but the hand of God was always with him. In time he would come to be one of the most
powerful leaders in the nation, second only to Pharaoh himself. It was through Joseph’s wisdom and strong
leadership that provisions were made while the world as they knew it
experienced a devastating famine. Many
nations were spared as God worked powerfully through this slave who rapidly came
to rule over the land of Egypt.
But now, in our reading this morning, his brothers have come
to Egypt to receive that sustenance without which they will die. They do not know that it is Joseph, the
brother they have abandoned, who now holds their fate in his hands. How many of us would relish the opportunity
to settle the score? Joseph has a chance
to pay them back for all that they have done to him…but instead he chooses to
make excuses for them! Revealing himself,
to their astonishment, he declares:
I am you brother
Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt.
But now do not be distressed and do not reproach yourselves for having
sold me here. It was really for the sake
of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.
—Genesis 45:4-5
Joseph is not only willing to make excuses for his brothers
and forgive them, but he is also able to see the hand of God at work in his
adversity and in his daily life. I would
suggest that this is the essential starting point for us if we are to move in
the direction of forgiveness and the way of mercy that the Gospel entails.
Joseph was able to ask not merely, “God, why did you allow this to happen to
me?” but also, “God, where are you
working in my life now? Where are you in
all of this that I am experiencing each day?” His ability to ask these questions would
later enable him to say to these same brothers, “You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring it
about that many people should be kept alive” (Genesis 50:20).
Where perhaps is God asking us to see His work in our daily lives,
either through the adversity we
experience or in spite of it? Where is He challenging us to view our lives
and the world around us from a Divine perspective, so that we, too, might
receive the grace to make excuses for those around us; to see brothers and
sisters instead of only adversaries; to seek, without ever forgetting the
demands of justice, the desire nonetheless to forgive and to have mercy.
