We hear in the First Reading: "Anger and wrath. these are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them." (Sir 27: 30) St Paul tells us elsewhere: "Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil." (Eph 4: 26-27) The emotion of anger is not sinful. The choice to hold onto anger, fostering bitterness and hatred, is. Each one of us has a royal prerogative of pardon. Our heavenly King has forgiven us; we are obliged by him to forgive others. We say: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us" every time we pray the Our Father. In this we acknowledge that we belong to the Lord and his righteousness not to the ways of the world: "If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live of whether we die, we are the Lord's." (Rm 14: 8) Thus, the measure of our mercy comes from God whose love is unlimited and mercy is super-abundant: "I forgave that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?" (Mt 18: 32-33)
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