April 12, 2026
Today is the 8th day in the Octave of Easter, also known as Divine Mercy Sunday. Our compassionate and loving God gives yet another Easter gift. It is the gift of forgiveness and new life. It's the gift of grace and second chances.
In our Gospel this weekend, the Risen Christ teaches us another way, a better way, of thinking and living. He gives us a lesson on the topic of forgiveness. Not only does he grant the power to forgive sins in his name to the apostles, our Blessed Lord invites all of us to welcome this Easter gift of renewal into our lives. We are invited to be free of the clutter of sin and darkness.
This Gospel episode is a reminder of what he taught the apostles early on in their journey with Jesus, when he challenged them to forgive a brother who had wronged them. Simon Peter once asked the Lord, "How many times must I forgive a brother who has wronged me, seven times?" Peter probably thought that seven times was an extravagantly generous number. Jesus shocked him on that occasion by saying, "Not seven times, but seventy seven times." The truth is, Jesus isn't talking about a mathematics lesson here. He is trying to raise the level of the discussion. Jesus, through this conversation and his subsequent parables, seeks to address the nature of forgiveness. It is beyond calculation. True forgiveness, divine forgiveness, is another way, a better way, of living.
When we think about the topic of forgiveness, we may equate forgiveness with giving up, forgetting, letting go of a guilty person as "unpunished." All of those answers are incomplete and certainly unsatisfying. Although psychologically forgiveness is a complex process, spiritually speaking forgiveness is a healing process, one that puts things in proper order. As a powerful Easter gift, God's gracious forgiveness is meant to set us free to put our lives in their proper order. On this Divine Mercy Sunday, we would all do well to embrace this Easter gift. Indeed, we need to understand and embrace true Christian forgiveness.
When our hearts are hardened by unforgiveness toward self or others, we often go down a path we don't want to go. We can often devolve into anger, vengeance, rage, judgmentalism, negativity, pessimism, and loss of emotional control. This is bad for us. It is bad for others. It certainly is not evidence of welcoming the Easter gift of forgiveness and peace. No wonder anger is one of the seven deadly sins. It easily leads us to other forms of dysfunctional behavior. Easter is about the risen life of Christ putting things back in order in our lives.
Spiritually speaking, when our hearts are hardened by unforgiveness and resentment, when they are closed to grace, they become impervious to the forgiveness that God offers, and the graces that foster healing, new inner equilibrium, and spiritual peace at our core. Today we are invited to provide ready welcome to the graces God wishes to give us.
The nature of divine forgiveness is beyond calculation. It is limitless. The English scripture scholar, Tom Wright, once said, "the kingdom that Jesus preached and lived was all about a glorious, uproarious, absurd, generosity." Resentments, unforgiveness, and keeping score never help!
This Easter, God once again generously gives us (particularly through the Sacrament of Reconciliation), his forgiveness and mercy. He now asks us to live like a forgiven person.
Rev. Dr. Michael W. Davis