Gospel: Luke 17:1-6

“Sin, forgiveness and faith” are closely linked in the Gospel.

 

About “sin”, Jesus concludes saying: take heed to yourselves and thus, he uses a harsh expression, asking them not to sin. Luke writes that it is Jesus himself who says: temptations to sin are sure to come; but he also adds: “woe to him by whom they come!”. 

 

Jesus also addresses these particularly harsh words to us, to Christians, and as a result we must ask ourselves: “do I sin?”. And even before that, “what is sin?”. Sin is to assert and profess “I’m a Christian” and then to live as a pagan. 

 

And this is why Jesus is so harsh and repeats: take heed of yourselves, be careful! This very exhortation of Jesus will do us good to repeat today: Take heed of yourselves! For we are all capable of sinning.

 

The second word is “forgiveness”. Jesus advises us to never tire of forgiving. Why? Because we have been forgiven. A Christian, who is incapable of forgiving, sins: he isn’t a Christian. 

 

It’s understandable why on hearing these things, the disciples said to the Lord: ‘Increase our faith!’. Indeed, without faith one cannot live without sinning and always forgiving. We truly need the light of faith, the faith in the Church. And this is a gift. No one receives faith from books or by going to Universities. After all, precisely because faith is a gift of God who comes to us, therefore the Apostles said to Jesus: ‘Increase our faith!’.

 

Thus consider an earnest reflection on these three words: sin, forgiveness and faith. Regarding sin it’s enough to remember only those words of Jesus: take heed to yourselves! This is dangerous: better “to be cast into the sea” than to scandalize with our sin. Regarding forgiveness we must always remember that we were forgiven first. And last, the faith, without which a life without sin and a life of forgiveness could never be possible.