Gospel:
Matthew 18:21-35
Peter
approached Jesus and asked him,“Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often
must I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus answered, “I say to you, not
seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be
likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he
began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge
amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be
sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of
the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient
with me, and I will pay you back in full. Moved with compassion the master of
that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left,
he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He
seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe. Falling
to his knees, his fellow servant begged him ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay
you back. But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back
the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply
disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master
summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire
debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow
servant as I had pity on you? Then in anger his master handed him over to the
torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father
do to you unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”
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Reflection:
Are you
forgiving?
In our
gospel there is this servant who asked to be forgiven for the huge amount that
he owed from his lord, so he was forgiven. Yet when he met the person who owed
him a much lesser amount he demanded for the debt to be paid back to him.
Perhaps
many of us are like this servant who asked for forgiveness from his Lord and
Master. We ask for forgiveness from Jesus from all of our sins, yes we submit
ourselves to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. But do we truly live this
forgiveness that we have received from Jesus? Do we pay forward this
forgiveness that we have received from Jesus?
When we
forgive we free ourselves from the imprisonment of anger and hatred. Just
imagine if we have anger in our hearts we carry this burden that does no good
to us except to heighten our blood pressure. Why not let bygones be bygones and
forgive and forget and move on without carrying a heavy burden in our heart?
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