Homily: March 5, 2024, Third Monday in Lent (Clear Debts).

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"When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount."

My family farm used to engage many workers from other Indian states who needed work. They were paid a daily wage. At the beginning of the farming season, these workers arrive at our farm without any money, so they would ask for some salary in advance as a loan and pay it off with their daily wage.

However, if anyone with an outstanding loan went to ask for another loan, my papa would not allow it unless it was for a grave need. That way he could help them avoid accumulating more loans beyond their ability to pay back.

Whenever I read this parable, I would recall my papa’s system and wonder why this King allowed his servant to accumulate such a huge amount of debt, knowing he would not be able to pay back. He could have required him to pay off his outstanding debt before taking up another loan.

Did his generosity encourage the servant to borrow and spend more than he could earn and return?

This parable is often understood as referring to God’s love, forgiveness, and mercy in dealing with us great sinners who are heavily in debt to God. God loves us unconditionally and generously. He does not demand a return but cautions us how our accumulated sins could pile up and burden our soul, disturb our own inner peace.

So, He encourages us to reduce and remove our baggage of sins as soon as possible, to dispose them through the sacrament of reconciliation as often as possible, to confess our past and present sins soon, before a new sin is committed. Do not wait till our spirit is overly burdened.

God is waiting for you at the confessionals of every parish, ready to write off your sins, to forgive and to offer you a fresh start, to be relieved and liberated so as to live a fulfilling life. 

And do not wait till the time when God comes to do His final accounting. Every season of Lent is another opportunity for us to straighten our accounts with God so let us go to God and sincerely ask for His mercy with a contrite heart.

Amen.


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