Daily Mass Homily: Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 (St. Scholastica students)

           The talents in the Gospel tonight refer to a form of money used in Palestine during the time of Jesus.  Does anyone know how much a talent is worth in our currency today?  [Guesses of ten cents, one hundred dollars, ten thousand dollars and a million dollars]  According to the internet (which is always right), a talent is worth about $360,000—a year’s salary for an upper class man.  And the slave in the parable owed 10,000 of these.  Now I went for math here at CSS and if I do the arithmetic correctly, that gives this guy a 3.6 billion dollar debt.  And the king forgave him.

            How much is a denarius worth?  [Guesses of ten cents and a dollar]  A denarius was the daily wage of a poor person in Palestine during Jesus’ time—so around $64 of our money.  He owed 100 of these, giving him a bill of $6,400. 

            After being granted a free-bee from a 3.6 billion dollar debt, the first servant goes out and chokes his fellow and throws him in jail for $6,400.  Imagine if I told you I would pay for the whole of your college tuition.  Then your poor college roommate asks to borrow a buck because he is hungry and wants a burger from McDonald’s.  You give him the dollar but demand he pays it back the next day.  When he cannot you choke him and call the cops.  Utterly ridiculous!  And this is precisely the point Jesus is making.

            Jesus took our infinite debt—the price of our sins—and wiped it away on the cross.  Yet often enough we hold onto grudges, refuse to forgive or allow pettiness to fester in our souls.  When we do not forgive we are the servant in the parable and we are foolish.

            In the Lord’s Prayer we pray, “…forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us…”  As we have been forgiven all of our sins, so too must we forgive all those sins against us.

            And when we slip up—even when we are the servant who fails to forgive—we can always return to our king and ask forgiveness once more.  We simply need to come to Confession.  One of the highlights of my week is being with you on Tuesday nights in Adoration, Mass and Confession.  Your Confessions are beautiful.  They are heart felt, humble and genuine.  I am proud of you—and so is God—when you come to ask His mercy once more.

            And when we do receive His forgiveness, we must go out and forgive others.