Gratitude for Forgiveness Freely Given
by Fr. Erasto Fernandez
The Entrance rite flows naturally into the Penitential rite at each Eucharist. In spite of all our training and participation in the Eucharist, we still find ourselves hopelessly divided one from another for a variety of reasons. Besides, there would be several other un-Christian attitudes that we discover in ourselves even as we begin the celebration - all of which act as a hindrance to our communion with the Father and with one another. Hence, there is need of doing something about them so that they do not prevent our communion with God and one another - which is the ultimate goal of the Eucharist.
Correct Understanding of Forgiveness
The Penitential rite is perhaps one aspect of the Eucharist that needs careful attention. All through the Gospels we are reminded that Jesus our Saviour, through his dying-rising, has ushered us into Covenant with the Father. This simply means that with the dying-rising of Jesus, we are catapulted, as it were, into a new world: "See, I make all things new" (Rev 21:5) And in the opening verses of the same chapter, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them…" (Rev 21:1-3). Texts such as these remind us forcefully that from the moment we appropriate the redemptive work of Jesus through Baptism, we already live out in faith the new Covenant that Jesus made for us and in our name.
This idea is actually nothing new and occurs several times in the Old Testament. Isaiah, for example, says to the exiles in Babylon: "You have heard; now see all this; and will you not declare it? From this time forward I make you hear new things, hidden things that you have not known (Isa 48:6). This message appears also in Trito Isaiah (65:17, 66:22). However when Peter talks of the new heavens and new earth, it appears as if these have not yet been established; he seems to imply that we have to wait for them to happen: "But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for the new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home" (2 Pt 3:13). Yet, a little careful reflection will show us that what Peter speaks of is the complete and final establishment of this new reality. Our studies in Eschatology remind us today that we are now in an 'already but not yet' kind of situation. The victory of Jesus is already a reality, but it will reach its fullness only at the end of time.
The upshot of all this is that already now we are called to live the new life of Covenant with God that Jesus obtained for us - we don't need to wait to start enjoying, even in a small way, the blessings Jesus brought us. We certainly look forward to the fulfillment at the end of time, but it would be a real waste of the precious suffering and death of Jesus and of the power of his resurrection if we missed out on these blessings already ours while here on earth. Jesus came to transform all of reality already now - this transformation will no doubt reach its fulfillment at the end of time. But already now it is ours for the taking!
Forgiveness - fore-given
Applying all this to the question of forgiveness of sin, it is clear that there are two approaches we could take: if we accept St. Peter's statement literally, we could behave as if we will receive forgiveness only at the end of our lives. So, as long as we live here on earth, we would have to strive might and main to earn God's forgiveness. This approach negates all that Jesus accomplished through his life and death in obedience to the Father. After all, if God now forgives us only when we beg for it and bolster this begging with plenty of penitential acts like fasting and so on, then in what way are we Christians different from the Jews? In the Old Testament too, God forgave his people when they pleaded for mercy and engaged in penitential acts, didn't he? So, what is different after Jesus or in what way is Jesus' approach new?
The key difference is that Jesus gives us the assurance that God has already forgiven all our sins unilaterally and not primarily because we have begged for it. As John puts it: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 Jn 4:10). The hymn in Ephesians reminds us: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph 1:7). Further, when Luke has Jesus make his initial proclamation, the key point of his message was: "I have been anointed and sent to proclaim that this is the year of the Lord's favour" - the Jubilee year in which all debts are cancelled and a fresh beginning made. What could be more powerfully the 'Good News' that Jesus brought us?
Atoning Sacrifice
To understand the full power of these expressions taken from different evangelists basically telling us that 'Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins' we need to know something about the ceremony of atonement (another term for atonement is 'expiation') held on the Jewish feast of Yom Kippur. The Jews believed that God dwelt among them, sitting on the throne called the 'Mercy Seat' located in the inner sanctuary hidden behind the veil of the Temple. It is from here that Yahweh ruled the universe. But, when the Chosen people sinned grievously as God's chosen nation, they expelled God from his holy throne; and forced him to depart from their midst.
On the feast of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement for the sins of Israel, the High Priest having sacrificed the animals, took a part of their blood and entered into the Holy of Holies. Once there, he sprinkled the Mercy Seat with this blood and then 'showed to the people assembled, the Mercy Seat covered with blood.' The sight of this Seat covered with blood was meant to assure the people in God's name that their sins had been forgiven. This forgiveness is always seen as a gesture that originates from God, given on his own initiative: it is God who unilaterally forgives the people their sins and not the other way round, viz. that the people obtain it by their pleading for it or through their sacrifice. With their relationship restored to its former level by God's gracious act of forgiveness, Israel could once again live as God's chosen people. This understanding accounts for the tremendous joy of this feast!
Against the background of the Yom Kippur sacrifice, what John says in the text mentioned above, is that God sent Jesus to us to tell us that our sins have been forgiven unilaterally because of his great love for us. Jesus' blood spattered cross is the new Mercy Seat covered with blood that guarantees for us the complete forgiveness of all our sins. This is also brought out by Paul in Romans 3:24-26, using the same imagery of the Yom Kippur sacrifice. So, when we refer to the forgiveness of sins, we must remember that God's forgiveness is offered us in Christ Jesus always as a gift, and that too, 'once and for all.' The Father never takes back his gifts given freely and generously to us, no matter how poor our response is!
It is worth noting here that expiation is different from propitiation. Propitiation refers to actions that are directed by the offending creature towards the Creator to soothe the anger or ill will that sin has caused. Implicit in this is the desire to win back God's favour. This idea originally presupposed a crassly material notion of an arbitrary Deity who had to be almost 'bought off' or placated and kept happy. With the growing awareness among the Jews that the creature cannot exert any kind of pressure on the immutable God, this crude conception gradually began to give way to the higher sentiments of praise, petition, adoration, thanksgiving and recognition of God's excellence, especially his unbounded mercy and love. In short, propitiation refers to an action originating with the creature and is directed towards God. Expiation or atonement, on the other hand, is rather God's own free gift of forgiveness because of his covenant with his people - the sign of this unilateral forgiveness is the Mercy seat covered with the blood of the sacrificed animal.
Forgiveness Must be Received
However, because God has unilaterally forgiven us our sins it does not mean that our sins are automatically forgiven, without us having to do anything in regard to it. God offers us the gift; it is ours to accept that gift gratefully and allow it to transform our lives or not. It is something like what happens when a hungry person enters the dining room where the table is laden with all kinds of delicacies. Merely looking at these will not make his hunger disappear. It is only when he eats of the food placed before him that his hunger will be taken away. Similarly, even though God in his goodness offers us the gift of forgiveness, we are not reconciled with God until we accept this gift and enter into a new relationship with the Father.
So when we come to the Eucharist (something similar happens with regard to the Sacrament of Reconciliation as well), we do not come to plead for mercy in the Penitential rite - since this has been given us already in the dying-rising of Jesus. Realizing that we have been offered the gift of forgiveness, and desirous of availing ourselves of it, we come to express our acceptance of this gift and manifest our gratitude for it. We do this in two important ways: we express our acceptance of forgiveness by (re)entering into a deep, personal relationship with the Blessed Trinity. In practice this means that we do not callously revert to the same sinful behaviour that we have cast off. If our repentance (central to the acceptance of the gift) is genuine, then it has to include a clear, conscious decision not to follow the sinful paths that led us away from filial relationship with God. Thus, we make a clean break with our previous sinful habits and particularly the thinking patterns (paradigms) that led to our sin in the first place. While this does not altogether preclude future failings, it certainly eliminates a callous, carefree return to the sinful past as if our Eucharist did nothing for us!
When we realize that the root cause of our sin is our Self-centredness and hence make serious conscious efforts to 'die to self' regularly and consistently, our waywardness would be considerably less. Besides, if we strive with equal seriousness to become more and more conscious of God's tremendously personal love for us, shown in a thousand different ways each day, that would make it far easier to stay comfortably within the ambit of God's love.
Forgiving Others
The second way to show appreciation for God's gift of forgiveness is to freely offer it to others when they offend or hurt us. To deliberately and consciously refuse to forgive our fellow humans would mean that we do not really value God's gift of reconciliation ourselves. This is brought out forcefully in St. Matthew's parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Mt 18:23-35). Further, in presenting the Lord's Prayer to his community, Luke's wording stresses the fact that it is in the very act of forgiving others that we ourselves are forgiven. For, while Matthew says, 'forgive us our trespasses because we have forgiven others,' Luke has: 'forgive us our sins as we forgive others their sins.' Matthew is even more emphatic about us forgiving others when he ends the prayer saying: 'For if you do not forgive your neighbour his sins, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you yours' (See Mt. 6:15 and 18:35).
Coming back to the penitential rite in the Eucharist, we cannot say that we are eager to receive God's forgiveness if at the same time we consciously refuse to extend forgiveness to others around us. This is perhaps one of the main reasons why our Eucharist and Reconciliation services tend to be ineffective and sterile. While at the best of times it is difficult, in practice, to forgive another - especially if the person has hurt us deliberately and maliciously, nevertheless, God's love for us energizes us to at least want to try opening ourselves out in mercy and love.
Forgiveness Always a Gift
It is further helpful to recall that God's forgiveness is not like human pardon. All through their chequered history the Israelites were familiar with three kinds of debts: the debt of justice incurred when a person enters into a legal contract with another but does not fulfill his part of the contract. Thus, if one were to purchase a book but not pay the full amount to the shopkeeper, then until the balance is cleared off, one is under the debt of justice. The day the person goes and pays up the balance owed, the debt vanishes. It is in the offender's power then, to remove that debt as and when s/he chooses. The next is the debt of gratitude - when someone does another a favour, s/he automatically owes the benefactor a favour in return, by virtue of gratitude. Again, the day the recipient repays the donor in some way or other that debt ceases - here too, it is in the offender's power to remove the debt of gratitude.
Coming to the third kind, the debt of offence: this occurs when A hurts or offends B. In this case, A can apologize to B acknowledging his fault and seeking reconciliation. Yet, the rupture in the relationship introduced by the fault does not cease by the mere fact of apologizing. It remains until B offers A the gift of forgiveness and 'repairs' the ruptured relationship. A relationship is a two-way process and so unless both come together in mutual acceptance, the rupture remains. Notice here that ultimately, it is in the hands of the offended party to forgive the offender - and until s/he does that, A remains indebted to B. Thus, forgiveness is always a free gift, graciously and lovingly offered by the aggrieved party and humbly accepted by the offender. If this is so among human beings how much more is not God's forgiveness a free gift to us? No matter how much we plead or repent, it does not give us the right to obtain forgiveness. Only God's free gift could forgive us our sin and draw us again into covenant with him.
Now, when we reflect further that God in his goodness and love not only offers us the gift of forgiveness when we sin, but actually pursues us lovingly even at the very moment of our sinning, would we not rejoice to know that God constantly forgives and welcomes us back home, almost as if nothing had come between us? "I will cast your sins behind my back" (Isa 38:17) he assures us in the Bible. So, particularly at the Eucharist, recalling that through Christ his Son, God has forgiven us and re-instated us as his genuine children, we have every reason to rejoice!
Deeper Understanding of God's Forgiveness
However, what our daily experience of forgiveness and reconciliation conveys to us is that when a person forgives another, all that happens is that the offence is forgotten or at most condoned. Yet, the wound or hurt still seems to remain! And so, should the offender repeat the offence at a later date, this latest offence immediately hooks up with the 'traces or residue' of the previous fault which is indelibly imprinted in our memory. These remind us of the past fault and add the new one to the score. The hurt or pain then becomes greater than before. This seems to be the background to Peter's question: 'Lord, how often should I forgive my brother when he offends me, as many as seven times?' In answering Peter, Jesus does not indicate a concrete figure when he says that we should forgive 70 times 7 - which we calculate as 490 or even as countless. Rather, what Jesus indicates to Peter is that if he were to calculate in that way, it is a sure sign that he has not understood the meaning of forgiveness at all.
For, when one person offends another for the first time, and s/he is genuinely forgiven, the 'score' of that fault could be said to be one. The next time s/he repeats the same offence and is forgiven, the score (in the habitual way of reckoning used by most people) would be seen as going up to two and then three, and so on. But when God forgives (and in our forgiveness we simply mediate to the other God's own forgiveness to ourselves) the score which was one returns to zero because God's forgiveness wipes out the fault completely - not even traces or scars remain! In fact, God's forgiveness heals and restores the sinner to wholeness, to his/her pristine beauty before God. And so, the next time the person sins, the score is again one and when this too is forgiven, the score returns once more to zero. In such a situation, how could Peter ever reach even seven?
Against this background we readily understand that when we come to Eucharist as forgiven, or better 'graced' sinners, what the Father sees in us is not so much a 'sin-scarred' or 'sin-stained soul' but 'my beloved (son/daughter) in whom I am well pleased.' The marks of our sin show not on our own persons, but in and through the wounds of Jesus received during the Passion. And these simply assure us all the more of God's loving compassion and forgiveness. Now this truth does not make sense and cannot be accepted on the basis of what we experience on the human level - it has to be accepted in faith, on the strength of God's own word to us in Jesus: "I have come to call not the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (Lk 5:27-32). God's loving mercy is truly unbelievable in its scope, content and extent. Yet, this is no reason for us to sell it short, especially when we come to the Eucharist. Further, this area of forgiveness becomes the area of our greatest witnessing to God's infinite and unbelievable love.
Liturgical Possibilities
It is worth noting that in the Missal used by the Celebrant, nine sets of alternatives to the "I confess" are provided for the Penitential rite. A careful study of these shows that not one set directly refers to our sinfulness. Instead, every one of the acclamations extols God's goodness and love, his great generosity in reaching down to us in mercy. This brings us to the key point viz. that the expression 'Lord, have mercy' used in the Penitential rite should not be read or heard as a plea for forgiveness, but rather as 'Lord, you are the source of mercy.' The original Greek 'Kyrie eleison' was used more as a grateful acclamation, extolling God's mercy. But when it was later translated into Latin, it took on more the form of an abject plea for forgiveness: Miserere nobis.
Once this point is clear and accepted, one can see immediately that the atmosphere in which the Penitential rite should be carried out is not one of fear or remorse, but rather of joy and gratitude. Unfortunately, even the musical key or signature of the tunes used for these invocations are generally in the minor, reflecting an abject, dark and gloomy mood. It is worth recalling here that in the parable of the Prodigal Son, when the boy returns home with his prepared speech pleading to be accepted at least as a slave, even before listening to the son's complete speech the Father immediately calls for a grand celebration. It is always the Father who joyously welcomes the sinner back and organizes a celebration. Against this background, does it make much sense for us to come for the (Eucharistic) 'celebration' but sit in a corner with a mournful, depressed look? It is like coming to the Gospel Wedding feast but refusing to wear the wedding garment - such a person will sooner or later be thrown into 'the exterior darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Mt 8:12, 22:13, 25:30).
Eucharistic Attitudes
The Eucharistic attitudes that develop from celebrating the Penitential rite in this scriptural way (Jesus' way and not that of John, the Baptist) are: a deep respect for all people, especially those who seem to be walking along the path of sin. As Christians we have to refrain from judging people, even when what we see seems to be obviously wrong. We all know that no human being can enter into the inner workings of another's mind and heart to understand exactly why s/he does/did certain actions. And so, as Jesus suggests, it is best to leave judgment to the Father who sees all that is done in secret and rewards each person according to his/her merits.
Secondly, we develop a sense of gratitude to God for the numerous times he forgives us so lavishly and magnanimously. Actually, on closer scrutiny, we would have to say that God forgives us only once and his forgiveness is so perfect and complete, that he does not have to repeat it again, no matter how many times we choose to sin against him. Nor does God ever take back his gift of forgiveness, and so it is always there for us the moment we choose to return to his love. In fact, God's love and mercy are like the sun that cannot stop shining. Even when we turn away from the direct rays of the sun as at night it continues shining for those who will receive its light. One can well imagine what would be our plight if the sun did stop shining altogether even for a brief period! Similarly, God's love and mercy cannot be absent even for a second without the entire world perishing! So, while on earth, it is our prerogative to allow God's mercy to shine continually through us as we generously forgive all around us. That would be the best act of gratitude to God for his gracious forgiveness. There will be times in our lives when we will be hurt deeply and that too by people whom we have helped selflessly. While it is difficult to forgive as God forgives in such situations, yet the challenge to allow God's mercy to flow through us will be ever present. And if by God's power we can rise to the occasion, immense glory will be given him - for only with his power can we forgive in that way.
Further, the awareness of God's unbelievable love and mercy would enable us to be more deeply self-aware of our motives as we launch into each and every action. More deeply aware of the Self and its subtle machinations, we would find it a lot easier to respond to God out of love. Our appreciation of the Word of God too would increase as we allow God to remove the major obstacles to listening to and understanding of his word.
Another development we would notice is that we become more compassionate with those who suffer in whatever way. Also, this compassion does not remain at the level of feeling only, but moves into action impelling us to do something to better the situation of the unfortunate, especially in the line of relieving them of the burden of their offences against ourselves. Thus, we share in the very compassion of the Father and become his willing instruments to forgive others and spread his love to all.
Further, we would find ourselves moving away from the usual pattern seen in most people's lives: that of being quick to spot only the faults of others and to judge or criticize them. Appreciating God's gift of forgiveness would make us rather slow to even notice the faults of others; and even when we cannot help noticing them, we would find it easy to attribute attenuating circumstances to their actions e.g. they must have been tired, or upset with something else, or, they didn't really mean to hurt us… and so on. Instead, we would notice and appreciate the good that is in others, and by highlighting these we would encourage them to do better in the future. As God does with us, we too would give the offender enough space and time to grow out of their sinful actions or habits. God never desires the death of a sinner, but rather wishes that he repents and lives life to the full.
It is through these simple attitudes we develop that we show that the values proclaimed and celebrated in the Eucharistic penitential rite have become a permanent part of our lives. When that begins to happen we can say that we not merely celebrate Eucharist, but that we are 'eucharist' - bread broken for a new world! The Eucharistic attitudes developing from the Penitential rite when seen from the Gospel point of view are the following:
a) A deep respect for all people
b) A pervading sense of gratitude for God's forgiveness received
c) Self-awareness, regarding the inner workings of our own minds and hearts
d) Greater facility in listening to God's word profitably
e) Compassion for those who fail
f) Readiness to forgive others
g) Being less critical or fault-finding and more appreciative of the good in others.
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Copyright © Fr. Erasto Fernandez. All rights reserved.
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