13 September 2026 – 24th Sunday ‘A’
Sirach 27:30–28:7; Romans 14:7–9; Matthew 18:21–35
Homily
This business of ‘seven times’ and ‘seventy times seven’ is a very old story. It dates back to the time of Cain and Abel. After Abel’s murder, according to the account in Genesis, God banished Cain from Paradise. Cain then said to God: ‘If you drive me out today from this land, I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’ And the Lord replied: ‘Well then! If anyone kills Cain, he shall be avenged sevenfold.’ And, a few generations later, Lamech, Cain’s grandson, took two wives, Ada and Zilla, and said to them, rather defiantly: ‘Ada and Zilla, listen to my voice! Wives of Lamech, lend an ear to my words! Yes, I have killed a man for a wound, a child for a bruise. Yes, Cain will be avenged sevenfold, but Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
