Thursday of Week 19 in Ordinary Time (Year II)
St. Clare, Virgin
Ezekiel 12:1-12 | Psalm 77:56-59,61-62 | Matthew 18:21-19:1
Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:21-22)
Pokémon GO has invaded Singapore’s shores. Already, I’ve had to fend off violent contact several times with mesmerized players who’d suddenly stop in their tracks and swivel with outstretched cellphone in hand. To say that I was annoyed each time would be quite an understatement.
Jesus instructs us to always be in a forgiving frame of mind, but He has never instructed us to forget the deeds and hurts perpetrated against us. Neither, as far as I can tell, does the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Instead, we are instructed to be wise, and we cannot be wise if we blithely erase all memory of unpleasant incidents, only to have that be used against us later on. “The discreet man sees danger and takes shelter, the ignorant go forward and pay for it.” (Proverbs 22:3)
Battered wives or abused children may choose to forgive their attackers, but choosing to continue their lives as if nothing happened, “sleeping with the enemy” as it were, could eventually prove fatal.
So, to the Pokémon GO players around me: I forgive you for almost striking me in your blissful perambulations, but now that I’ve seen the signs that typify your “game mode”, I will give you folks a wide berth to avoid future incidents.
And to the friend to whom I lent a large sum of money years ago: Like the master in today’s Gospel, I forgive you your debt to me, but should you approach me again with another loan request, I will remember the previous round, look at your still-abysmal financial wisdom…and respectfully decline.
And especially to me, myself and I: I forgive you for all the stupid things you’ve done to yourself over the years, but I really wish you’d stop forgetting them…and repeating history all over again.
To forgive is divine, to forget is just silly.