[Catholic Caucus] The Sacred Page: Forgiveness: Readings for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

By Dr. John BergsmaThe Readings for this Lord’s Day are unified around the theme of forgiveness. We begin and end with the words of “Jesus” on this topic: the First Reading records the words of Jesus, son of Sira, and the Gospel records the words of Jesus, Son of God. One of the last books of the Christian Old Testament to be written, Sirach (also known as Ben Sira or Ecclesiasticus) often seems to anticipate the teachings of Christ himself: Reading 1: Sirach 27:30-28:7Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will suffer the...