Feast of St. Margaret, Queen and Widow
(Transferred), November 17th, 2019
Can you think of a time when you were perhaps in school or maybe as an adult and you responded to a question and you thought that you gave the perfect answer but it ended up not being correct at all? We hear in the the Eighteenth Chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, a discussion between St. Peter and Our Blessed Saviour in regards to forgiveness. In asking the question, it seems as though St. Peter was trying to impress Our Lord with his generosity in forgiveness when he asks: "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" (St. Matthew 18:21) St. Peter thought he was giving an answer that would surely impress Our Lord but Our Blessed Saviour responded: "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." This prompted Our Lord to immediately tell the parable of the king who was owed an incredible amount of money by one of his servants, who begged for mercy in regards to the debt, and the king had compassion and forgave the enormous debt of the servant. Our Lord continues the parable by stating that this very same servant who had just been forgiven by the king turned around and refused to forgive another servant who owed him a mere fraction of money compared to what he had just been forgiven for.
I would imagine Our Lord told this parable with great zeal and passion because He saw so much hatred . . . so much division . . . so much inhumanity among humanity. As I write this, it sounds like things haven't changed very much. We make mistakes and we are forgiven. We are given a "second chance." And yet we get up on our "high horse" and hold other people accountable for things that they have done. I am convinced, without any doubt whatsoever, that we human beings tend to focus on the shortcomings of others so that we do not have to dwell on our own shortcomings . . . our own failings. When we stay busy focusing on the sins of others, we don't need to focus on our own sins. Listen, God sent His Son into the world to save us from our sins. We all know that. Sin is what keeps us away from God. Thus, we are all guilty of committing sin. We are all guilty of not being perfect. All of us are in need of God's forgiveness. We should try as much as possible to remember this when dealing with others around us. Let us not be like the servant in the parable who received forgiveness of a great debt but this same servant would not forgive the debt of someone else against him.
On November 17th, St. Margaret Church will celebrate the Feast of our patron saint, St. Margaret of Scotland, Queen and Widow. Join us as we listen to the Word of God found in the King James Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Come and receive the Most Precious Body and Blood of Our Lord at Communion time. Afterwards, please join us for refreshments and fellowship at our coffee hour.
Mass is celebrated each and every Sunday at the beautiful Chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. Mass begins at 9:30 am.
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