From the Desk of Fr. Ryan - Associate Pastor
September 17, 2023 - 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

"For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

The teaching from today’s Gospel always rings true: if you want to be forgiven, you have to forgive. No matter how much we have to forgive others, we will never forgive as much as we have been forgiven by God already. My old friend, St. Josemaría explained: “All right: that person has behaved badly towards you. But – haven’t you behaved worse towards God?” God has forgiven much more than we’ll ever be required of forgiving. Let’s follow God’s lead!

Those who don’t forgive others have locked themselves in a cell. They become captives of their own resentment. But they could release themselves whenever they wanted because they still keep the key. The moment they decide to forgive, to stop holding grudges, they are free. Forgiving is not doing a favor to someone who offended us. Forgiving is doing ourselves a favor.

In the 1930s, a priest started speaking out publicly against Fr. Josemaría Escriva. He declared that the priest was a lunatic, a madman. Since the insult was only against him, Fr. Josemaría didn’t do anything apart from pray and forgive that person. A few months later the Spanish Civil War started, and the Communists began to kill priests (thousands of them). Fr. Josemaría managed to get a fake certificate of mental illness to find refuge in a mental institution and thus save his life. When the war finished, Fr. Josemaría had the opportunity to meet that priest who had once been so cruel to him. Fr. Josemaría approached him, showed him the ‘fake’ certificate and with a big smile said: “So, eventually you were right: I was mad; see my ‘certificate’!” The two priests settled the issue with a big laugh and hug. They became good friends from then on! Forgiveness is a big part of what made Fr. Josemaría become St. Josemaría! We gain nothing by holding grudges. Let us forgive. Let us grow holy!

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If you have a son or daughter in 5th through 8th grade, please consider signing them up to serve at Mass! Your son or daughter being an altar server is an excellent opportunity for you, as a family, to pray together at Mass.

Mass is the most important prayer we’ll ever pray! It is a privilege to be in Church every week, worshiping
God. Let’s not miss out on that opportunity, nothing is more important.

Oremus pro invicem – Let us pray for each other.

Fr. Ryan P. Brady
Associate Pastor of Our Lady of the Ridge - St. Linus Parish