A quiet and courageous decision
In today’s readings we hear Jesus’ famous parable of the unforgiving servant.
In response to a question from Saint Peter about how we are to treat those who have sinned against us, Jesus tells the story of a king who forgives a servant of an enormous debt. Yet that same servant — who has received great mercy — refuses to forgive a much smaller debt owed him by another. When the king learns of this, he condemns the servant for failing to show the same mercy he himself had received.
Unlike many of Jesus’s parables that can have counterintuitive teachings, the message of this parable is neither unclear nor difficult to understand. For Jesus, forgiveness is relational, reciprocal and reliant: we are exhorted to forgive others as we have been forgiven.
Reflecting on the centrality of forgiveness in the teachings of Jesus — calling believers to move beyond anger and resentment to instead choose mercy, reconciliation and restoration — has taken on urgency in our increasingly polarized nation in a world marked by war.
Thinking about this brought me back to January 2002, when I read the words of the then pope, Saint John Paul II, in his World Day of Peace Message, titled “No Peace without Justice, No Justice without Forgiveness.” In the shadow of the devastation wrought by the attacks of September 11, 2001, he explained that while justice is necessary to correct wrongdoing, justice alone is incapable of healing the deep wounds created by violence and hatred. Forgiveness is required to rebuild relationships and create lasting peace, reconciliation and healing.
Reflecting on today’s Gospel and the wisdom of Saint John Paul II invites us to examine our hearts in these challenging times, both individually and collectively. Just as the servant in today’s parable failed to show mercy after receiving it, societies too can also forget the importance of understanding, reconciliation and restoration. Forgiveness does not mean ignoring injustice and suffering. Rather, it opens the possibility of healing and a new future.
As the Church has taught from the time of Jesus to this day, forgiveness is not weakness but is strength: it requires humility, courage and faith. In a world marked by conflict and division, if we truly desire peace — in our families, our communities and our world — the path to peace begins exactly where Jesus tells us: in the quiet, courageous decision to forgive.
Tom Dobbins Jr. is the Director of Social and Parish Engagement and Deputy Director of the Department of Public & Community Engagement for Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of New York, a Producer for the “JustLove” radio broadcast on Sirius/XM’s Catholic Channel 129, Board Co-Chair of the National Association of Catholic Social Action and Mission (formerly: the Roundtable Association of Catholic Diocesan Social Action Directors) and Board member of Droste Mental Health Services, Inc.