This past week, I was in a store looking at Halloween costumes. I was looking to buy a couple of Halloween costumes for two kids of some friends of mine. And man, is that another world, or what? I couldn’t believe how many Halloween costumes they had. The store clerk told me that they had over 170 different costumes for adults and over 120 costumes for kids. I still can’t believe that there are that many adults who buy Halloween costumes. What was even more surprising was that the store clerk said that they would sell out of about 75% of the costumes before Halloween. Apparently, there are lots of people who like to play “dress up”. What is it about us that makes us want to imitate other people? Batman, Princess Leia, Dracula, Napolean Dynamite, and Scooby Doo are just a few of the popular costumes this year. And for some people, they don’t just do this at Halloween. Have you seen these people on the Discovery Channel who have plastic surgery to look like Brad Pitt, or Julia Roberts, or even Elvis? Can you imagine having surgery to look like a dead rock star? I wonder if the plastic surgeon gives you the choice between the young Elvis and the older fat Elvis. It’s kinda scary. But whether it’s for one day or for a lifetime, we’ve got a lot of people who like to imitate others.

And that’s good, because we come to Mass this weekend, and God is inviting all of us to imitate Him. Now, I’m not talking about dressing up for Halloween, I’m talking about imitating God’s great mercy. We hear this story of this man who is in serious trouble. He owes a huge amount to his king. This great amount is more than this man can possibly ever re-pay. The king forgives the man his debt, but then he goes out and refuses to forgive someone who owes him a mere fraction of what he himself owed. Jesus message is clear: You can be forgiven, but we’ve got to be able to forgive one another. This is the obligation that comes along with the mercy. Like our Father in Heaven, we are to be forgiving people. God wants us to imitate Him in this way. The problem, of course, is that we love to receive God’s grace and mercy, but it is much harder to imitate that love and mercy. There is something in us that cannot stand the thought of forgiving a person we absolutely dislike. One of the hardest parts of this is that most of the people that we need to forgive, are never going to ask for our forgiveness. They are not sorry. Maybe they don’t even know what they have done. But if we wait to forgive them until they come running to us, throwing themselves on their knees, begging for forgiveness, it isn’t going to happen. And Jesus says that we’ll be the one paying the price, because we won’t be forgiven if we don’t forgive others.

Maybe we need to remember that apologies don’t undo the damage or “make-up” debts anyway. Having someone ask for forgiveness rarely makes everything better. The hurt or the damage can still be there, unless we forgive from inside of us. You can see this with little kids. A little boy hits his little brother, and he will quickly confess and apologize for what he has done to both his little brother, who is crying by now, and to his father, who is about to punish the boy. Sometimes, the words “I’m sorry” don’t carry much weight. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good to be able to apologize and to ask for forgiveness, and to say “I’m sorry”. It just takes more than that. As we grow up, we realize this. That boy’s father will forgive him, but not because he asked out of desperation. He will forgive his son because he loves him. This is exactly why our Heavenly Father forgives us. We may never be able to fully imitate God’s love with the same magnitude, but we can keep working on having a loving spirit. Love is the force that makes forgiveness possible. Love can cover a “multitude of sins”. We, like the servant in today’s Gospel, will NEVER be able to pay all the debts we owe, nor can we expect payment on all the debts owed to us. But we can love. And if we can really love, then we will find that we can really forgive.

I don’t know if there’s a Halloween costume for that or not. Come to think of it, I did see a Cupid costume when I was in that store. But our love has got to be more than just a “costume”. It’s got to be a lot deeper than just on the outside. It’s got to be in the heart. May God permeate our hearts and make them like His own. May God help us to forgive!

God bless us on this Sunday, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… AMEN !!!

St. Maria Goretti… Pray for us !!!