Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” we read
in today’s Gospel, Mt. 5: 43-48. We see
God’s perfection at work in His forgiveness of King Ahab and Queen
Jezebel. That forgiveness included the
acknowledgement and condemnation of Ahab and Jezebel’s sin, not Ahab and
Jezebel themselves who contrived Naboth’s murder and then took possession of
his vineyard.
“Be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is
perfect” means forgiving those who harm us, treat us unfairly, put our dreams
to death and usurp that which we treasure.
To forgive, one needs to recognize and acknowledge that wrong has
occurred. It also means letting go of the human tendency to strike back,
inflict pain on the “enemy” in whatever way possible, hold on to grudges,
and/or carry resentments around as excuses to continue acting angrily
throughout our lifetimes. Examples of
the kind of generosity God shows the sinner abound in both the Old and New
Testaments, all the way to Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery, the
persons ready to stone her, Peter in his threefold denial and the good thief on
the cross and you and I in all of our sinful behaviors and attitudes. You and I are called to the same heroic deeds
done in Jesus’ name and through the graces of redemption.
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