Homily for Thursday of the 19th week in ordinary time
HOMILY FOR THURSDAY OF THE 19TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR I Joshua 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17; Ps.114; Matthew 18:21-19:1 Gratitude to God for Mercy received It is possible to receive the gift of God and that gift will not bring us salvation. For God’s gift to bring us salvation, we need to have an attitude of gratitude. There are two sides to an attitude of ingratitude. In the story of the ten lepers, wherein only one came back to thank Jesus after they have all been healed, the ingratitude of the other nine lepers was displayed in their failure to give thanks to Christ who has healed them. In the gospel reading of today, we find the other side of ingratitude, namely: the failure to replicate to ones neighbour the favour we have received from God. The servant whose master forgave him his debt when he only asked for more time to pay back, could not fully enjoy the forgiveness of his master because he failed to show mercy to another servant who owned him far less than he owned his master...