Tolerance is a word we hear regularly thrown about in the public square, and often elevated as a supreme virtue. But we hardly ever hear about what tolerance is, and ironically, the would-be champions of tolerance are often some of the most exclusionary people of society. In today’s Gospel for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus teaches us what authentic tolerance looks like. And, as Tony explains, if we attend carefully to what Jesus says to us today, we find that authentic tolerance is ultimately imitation of Divine Love carried out by the virtues of humility, patience, and justice.
Mass Readings:
Reading 1: Sirach 27:30-28:7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 103: 1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Reading 2: Romans 14:7-9
Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35
Tony Crescio is the founder of FRESHImage Ministries. He holds an MTS from the University of Notre Dame and is currently a PhD candidate in Christian Theology at Saint Louis University. His research focuses on the intersection between moral and sacramental theology. His dissertation is entitled, Presencing the Divine: Augustine, the Eucharist and the Ethics of Exemplarity.
Tony’s academic publications can be found here.