The Gospel for the memorial of St. Leo the Great, Pope and doctor of the Church, is taken from Luke 17. Jesus said to his disciples, things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea, than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard. If your brother sins, rebuke him.
If he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, I am sorry, you should forgive him. And the apostles said to the Lord, increase our faith. The Lord replied, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in the sea, and it would obey you. It’s important to remember that Jesus disciples had not yet experienced the overflow of the Holy Spirit descending upon them as it did on Pentecost. So they were always a little confused, out of sync with the teaching of Jesus.
In this case, we see something that was so basic to the change from Old to New Testament, from justice to mercy, that Jesus always stressed the importance of forgiving and forgiving and forgiving again. But it was really hard for the disciples to understand this. And so as soon as he says it, they say, well, increase our ability to accept this, to have faith in this, because it doesn’t make any sense. And then he says the most important thing. It’s not for you to figure this out right now. What is important is you know that this is with the core of my teaching.
And you will one day have the faith that you need to believe that I can be the source of all forgiveness flowing through you as I forgive you. After the music, I will close with a prayer. Foreign closing prayer. Father, keep us always in touch with the beauty and the compassion that is in a forgiving heart. Who are we to judge? Who are we to condemn?
Bless us with mercy, a forgiving heart as we continue to build the kingdom of God. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.