Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

 Lectionary: 238

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

Catholics defend against withering criticism their belief in Purgatory. The doctrine recognizes both the necessity and the opportunity for atonement to those who repent. They will participate in the suffering of Christ as the Lord has suffered their unkindness and cruelty to others. They will participate in the complete and satisfying atonement which He accomplished as he descended into Hell. 

Atonement is that reparation which must follow every cruel deed. We cannot expect the Beautiful and Good God to accept imperfect, halfhearted offerings; they only insult God's ineffable dignity. A shameful history must be purified and cleansed; it cannot stand for all eternity. 

Some Americans, recalling our sorry history of slavery, segregation, and endemic racism, have been pondering ways of making reparation for those historic crimes and their continuing consequences. 

The necessity of reparation is broadly suggested in today's gospel, "Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt." If we cannot understand how torturers might extract repayment from the suffering wretch, we can recognize the angry demand that repayment be made immediately. 

If reparation, or atonement, has suddenly appeared in our conversations about the gracious presence of African-Americans in the United States, it must also gather into an ever-widening net the abuse of women and girls, the attempted extermination of Native Americans, the benign neglect of impoverished children and their parents, abortion, an unjust system of justice, and the heartless exploitation of our Earth's natural resources. 

The list is endless, where do we begin? 

This Purgatory business threatens to encroach deeply into Eternity; it may have an eternal life of its own!

Eve Ensler, in a powerful TED talk, describes her experience of healing by imagining her deceased father saying precisely what he never said before he died. I hear in her talk the necessity that wrongdoers be confronted first by their victims, and then by the full horror of their evil deeds. Finally, if sinners are to enjoy eternal bliss, their victims must forgive them. 

Or should we expect of traumatized victims that, upon entering paradise, they will automatically forgive and forget? Surely God's mercy must address victims first and then, perhaps, their tormentors. They must be healed. (Some people suppose God automatically and immediately forgives anyone who turns to him. Nothing happens automatically in God's world. God is not a machine.) 

The Catholic doctrine of Purgatory says, "Hold on there, pal! Forgiveness is not that simple." No one should expect to waltz into Heaven because some people bothered to eulogize them. Nor should anyone expect the sorry history of crime and cruelty in the United States to be forgotten by the victims and their ancestors. With all due apologies to Walt Disney, Leigh Harline, and Cliff Edwards, wishing on a star doesn't make it happen.

Atonement for our sins has been completed in Christ. Our faith insists upon that. But our willful belief that the Lord has given anyone a get out of jail free card, insults the suffering of our Savior. Our faith also insists upon our full participation in the atoning passion of Christ. Our willingness to confess our sins and make reparation to our victims accomplishes much. Thank God for that.