SEPTEMBER 17, 2026 FATHER VIJAI AMIRTHARAJ
A teacher was speaking to a group of children about forgiveness, and she said, “George Washington not only chopped down his father’s cherry tree, but also admitted doing it. Now, do you know why his father did not punish him?” Little Johnny at the back raised his hand and said, “I know why. Because George still had the axe in his hand.”
Sisters and brothers, today’s Gospel reading speaks of experiencing God’s mercy and forgiveness in our lives and rejoicing rather than feeling offended when God’s mercy is offered to someone else in need.
The scene in Simon the Pharisee’s house is one of the most moving encounters in the Gospel. A sinful woman enters uninvited. She says nothing. She carries no argument to defend herself or offers no excuses for her past life. Instead, she lets her actions speak. Her tears become water to wash Jesus’s feet. Her hair becomes a towel. Her kisses express gratitude, and her costly perfume becomes an offering of love.
The woman in the Gospel teaches us that repentance is more than feeling sorry for one’s sins. Genuine repentance is a movement of the heart that turns towards Christ with complete humility and with deep trust.
Now, the woman’s attitude is contrasted with the self-righteous and the saintly kind of attitude of Simon the Pharisee and the other Pharisees who are present, who are not pleased with the scene that is unfolding right before their eyes.
“A saint,” someone said, is “a dead sinner, revised and edited.” The woman in the story is one on the path to sainthood, because she allowed herself to be revised and edited by the grace and mercy of God.
Simon the Pharisee and the other Pharisees in today’s Gospel scene, on the other hand, were very much caught up in their moral righteousness, failing to offer even the basic courtesy. For example, as Jesus points out, Simon the Pharisee did not even offer some water to wash the feet of Jesus, which was a common practice.
Now, sisters and brothers, today’s Gospel challenges each of us to examine ourselves. At times, we resemble the woman, the sinful woman in the Gospel, aware of our failures and our longing for God’s mercy and forgiveness. And then, there are other times when we resemble Simon the Pharisee, quietly judging others while overlooking our own need for healing and forgiveness.
The danger of self-righteousness is that it blinds us both to our own sins and to God’s boundless compassion and mercy.
The Church, which includes all of us, is called to be like Jesus in today’s Gospel. A place where sinners encounter mercy, a place where wounds are healed rather than made worse. A place where no one is defined forever by their past mistakes.
Every celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation echoes the words that Jesus spoke to the woman in today’s Gospel. “Your sins are forgiven. Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
May we confidently seek and receive God’s mercy and forgiveness in our lives. And let us ask God to open our hearts to rejoice when God’s mercy is offered to others around us
