I have been asked to post my homily for this weekend. Here it is.
The greater one loves, the greater will be the forgiveness. The greater the forgiveness, the freer one is to love. And perfect love drives out all sin!
In our Gospel, we are confronted with this scene: A woman comes to the house of Simon the Pharisee because she heard that Jesus was going to eat there. She came at first simply to anoint him. She probably thought she could slip in and out of the dining room unnoticed. Perhaps she would be seen as one of the many servants this rich Pharisee had. But when she bent down to anoint him, she is overcome by tears. She began crying so hard that her tears were able to wash Jesus’ feet. She dried them with her hair we are told.
This woman, who was overwhelmed by a sudden awareness of her sin and a sudden awareness of the presence of love in the person of Jesus, took her sin and brought it to the feet of Christ.
She took her sin and she loved him.
She believed that she would be forgiven if she just loved him.
The greater one loves, the greater will be the forgiveness. And perfect love drives out all sin!
God is perfect love. Sin cannot remain in the presence of God. God destroys sin. In its place, he leaves freedom and love.
God is the love that forgives our sin.
Why does the Church recommend frequent reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation? Not so that we become so focused on our sin that we are fearful, guilt-ridden and anxiously bound up by it, but so that we may be free, truly free, to love more deeply.
Why does Jesus promise to forgive us in this sacrament? To free us from our sin. To gives us the freedom to love others.
Why does Jesus tell us to forgive others seventy times seven times? So that others may be freed to love.
We are called to be like Jesus.
Jesus gained nothing from forgiving the woman in the Gospel today. He gained nothing by forgiving his executioners as he hung upon the cross.
He forgave them, he forgives us, so we might be free — to love.
That is what Redemption and Salvation is ultimately all about: being in the presence of Love itself, in the presence of God and being free from sin through forgiveness to go out and live in love, the new Law of Christ.
That is why it it so important that we bring ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. So that we are not caught up in our sin and bound by it. So that we put ourselves at the feet of Jesus, put ourselves in the presence of God’s love and be freed to go forth and love others.
Jesus told Simon that he hadn’t loved enough. He hadn’t washed his feet. He hadn’t kissed him. He hadn’t anointed him. Simon knew well the sin and the guilt and the law, but he was blind to the love. He couldn’t see it when it was right in front of him.
The woman was not blind. She saw and understood.
The woman also knew her sin. You can imagine what it might have been. But she loved. She took her sin and brought it to the feet of Jesus by acts of love.
She could do so because she believed she would be forgiven. Jesus said to her, “Your faith has saved you; now go in peace.”
She was free.
We hear those same words when we confess our sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation: “Your sins are forgiven; now go in peace.”
We are freed.
We are freed to love, as the woman loved in the Gospel.
We are freed to forgive others, as Jesus forgave.
The greater one loves, the greater will be the forgiveness. The greater the forgiveness, the freer one is to love. And perfect love casts out all sin!
