• 11th Ordinary (C), June 17, 2007
• Theme: The Power to Bind and Loose

• Father’s Day

• Today’s readings talk about God’s capacity to forgive
• By extension – they also speak of the capacity of men and women to accept forgiveness
• First reading from the Second Book of Samuel
• We meet David who would come to be seen by Israel as the Ideal King – the model for the Messiah.
• David is guilty of adultery and of the murder of his loyal Commander Uriah
• In addition, he has turned from God who had given him life, power and moral authority in the land
• When he comes to recognize the horrific nature of his sin – both against God and against another human being and his family - he repents from the depth of his being
• In this humble yet profound recognition of his sin, God forgives him.

• In the Gospel reading from Luke 7 we have another case of God’s willingness to forgive and our ability to accept forgiveness or reject it:
• A common misinterpretation of this passage is that the woman “earned” her forgiveness by her outpouring of love for Jesus.
• We might conclude:
• If you show a lot of love and do something for Jesus, you will earn forgiveness.
• That’s not what the story says.
• The parable Jesus tells Simon makes this clear:
• A person who had been forgiven a great debt, as a consequence, showed great love to the one who has forgiven the debt.
• Which is what the woman has done
• She has already been forgiven and her acts are an expression that she realized what she had received.
• She is grateful.

• On the other hand, Simon, the Pharisee, who extends the invitation to Jesus for dinner reveals another response to God’s mercy:
• The invitation to dinner seems like a gesture of hospitality and respect.
• But Simon fails to follow-up on the hospitality with the usual Middle Eastern gestures of welcome and friendship.
• Perhaps, like Herod, he was curious about Jesus and wondered who this prophet might be.
• The account shows that Simon doubted that Jesus was from God.
• The woman does not doubt;
• For her actions reveal that she knows she has been forgiven and that she believes Jesus is God’s instrument of forgiveness.
• Apparently Simon doesn’t see himself as a sinner,
• Nor does he acknowledge any real faith in Jesus.

• There were two sinners before Jesus that day:
• The woman who had experienced forgiveness and was expressing her gratitude and faith.
• Simon, who wouldn’t admit his need for forgiveness, nor recognize Jesus as the way to be forgiven.
• (cf. Jude Siciliano, O. P.)

• The Non-Catholic Woman who taught me about the sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession)
• Forgiving oneself
• Loosing her bonds - Sacramental

• My own inability to forgive, and the chains by which it held me
• A parish staff person in San Diego
• Forgiving one another
• Tightening or loosing my bonds

• As we continue with the Mass, let us
• Pray in thanksgiving for God’s acceptance of us
• Pray that we can learn to be grateful by our acceptance and forgiveness of ourselves and one another.

• Amen

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