Friday of the First Week of Lent
The forgiveness, true justice
I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, “You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment”. But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, “Raqa”, will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, “You fool”, will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny!.Mt 5,20-26
There is a word that hovers on the gospel passage today, by the same way in which the Holy Spirit hovered on the waters at the creation: it is called “forgiveness”. Some of the vocabulary words shine like the stars in the sky. These are those which define the communion between people: “together”, “love”, “forgiveness”, “friendship”, “compassion” and a few others. The word “love” would be the brightest, but due to the excessive usage it has been done in the past as well as presently, it was a bit worn out. “Forgiveness”, having been used in a significantly minor way, has retained its original brilliance. If our justice – the Lord says to us today – will not go beyond that of the scribes and pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of the heaven. The justice which exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees and all the justices of the world is the “forgiveness”.Jesus tells us today that even words like “stupid” and “crazy” are enough to be dragged into the court of the Sanhedrin and then be burned in the fire of hell, because they mean we have not forgiven. Even the gift of our lives, presented to the altar and the eucharist which we receive have little sense, if we not reconcile before with our brother. If we always will forgive, our enemies will become our friends along the way of the life. We do not know if at the end of our days we will be judged more on the faith or on the charity, but certainly these great virtues could not exist if these were not continuously fed through the forgiveness.