24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. By Tobe Eze

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A.

FIRST READING

Sirach 27:30—28:7

SECOND READING
Romans 14:7—9

GOSPEL
Matthew 18:21—35

THEME: SELF LIBRATION.

I remember when I was in the secondary school, I fought with one girl in my school she was a year below me. Whenever I see her in my school, I became uncomfortable. Till one of my classmates that opened up to called us and reconciled us, then I started getting myself back. Again when I was writing WAEC, one of my classmates that I was living with in the same compound, she was using my pots anytime she wanted to use them provided I was not using it (them). One weekend, she locked my pot inside her room and went home. I was forced to go home for weekend because my pot was not there for me to cook. On Sunday night, when we have returned from our various homes, I went to her room, I finished her up with mouth and when she wanted to react, I gave her a serious beating. After that incident, that compound was no longer comfortable for me. I hated getting her voice talk more of seeing her after that incident for it torments my conscience. Whenever she showed, mood changed. At a point I told myself that I could not continue. One night, I went inside her room, knelt down and begged her for forgiveness and we started enjoying ourselves again. Why all these stories?

Continue Raeding..............................

The three readings of today are just talking or telling us the importance of self-liberation through forgiveness. When you are carrying malice in your heart, you hardly have a rest of mind. The first reading tells us to forgive others so that our heavenly father will also forgive us our own sins. Some find it difficult to say sorry talk more of asking for forgiveness. Some when asked to forgive will say no. There are different types of death, the mortal death that all of us know, the spiritual death which we know also and death of happiness. When we refuse to forgiving others their sins, we are dead because the happiness in us dies. We say our father every here and there without even for a day reflecting on it. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. Story for the gods. Nkea di iche. I can forgive in every case but for this one, no no no no. I will not.

This world ends here and we are not going with anything while leaving, why do we carry malice? A story was told of a man that was carrying two bags on his back, when he meets people he collects something from them and put in the bags. One of the back was opened all over the body. Things were falling out from the bag. People told him about it and he told them that he knew, that he intentionally did it, that that bag is the one containing evils that people do to him, that when he collects them, he puts them there to fall out so that they will not disturb his journey. Learn to forgive, it is self-liberation if you forgive.

The problem I have noticed is that those who do not forgive are those who find it difficult to ask forgiveness.  Ogbu mma adighi ekwe ka ewere mma gaa ya n' azu. It takes nothing from us to say I am sorry rather it adds to our values. I have learnt from life experience that sorry can solve a head seeking problem. In the year 2016, as I was on holidays. On 25^th August, as I was coming home with a motorcycle, our masque called Akatakpa stopped me, when I stopped, it said sorry I did not know you are the one. When I reached another one not up to a metre away from the first one, it immediately lashed a cane on my motorcycle, he started begging and saying he was sorry for that. After checking everything I left him and he was thanking me for that. The same day in the evening another did the same but he did not beg and I took him up and he suffered hell. After everything, he begged. He would have gone unpunished but he left the primary thing. Let us today seek for self-liberation through asking for forgiveness and forgiving ourselves. We are all brothers and sisters. Igbo says iwe nwanne adighi eru n' okpukpu. Brethren’s sins do not go inside the bone marrow. THANKS AND HAPPY SUNDAY.