Eleventh Sunday – Ordinary Time Cycle C
Reflecting on Luke 7:36-8:3
Only a person who has messed up as many times as I have can really remember the great love that washes over the person who is forgiven. Here’s a story that kind of makes me shudder every time I think of it:
One bitter January afternoon I was rushing to leave for a weekend retreat seventy miles away. Of course I was late, and of course I locked all my retreat materials in the trunk of the car and threw the car keys in for good measure.
ARGH!! It was getting later and darker and colder. I drove our second car to the nearby Safeway where my husband worked. Quick!! Give me your keys!! I don’t have time to explain! And as I was rushing out I sort of heard him say, Don’t lock me out!!
And it wasn’t until hours later, as I was settling into my cozy bed at the retreat house, that I realized that I had done exactly that. I had left Ben’s keys in the house and used mine to lock the doors. And of course neither of us had a cell phone.
So out of bed I flew, into the dark night and dark roads of the Colorado mountains. I pictured Ben shivering in the garage or sleeping on the neighbor’s couch. And here’s the moment of forgiveness: I walked up to our front porch and opened the (unlocked) door. A cozy warm fire was burning in the fireplace. A sleepy voice called to me from the bedroom. I knew you’d be back.
Thank God for hide-a-keys. And all the opportunities a lifetime provides us to grow in the kind of love and gratitude that only comes from being let off the hook.
Sharing God’s Word at Home:
What stories can you remember about being forgiven much?
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I have come to light a fire on the earth; how I wish it were already burning (Lk.12:49).