Sisters and brothers in Christ, today's Gospel parable of the Unforgiving Servant can be summarized with this line from the Lord's Prayer, or the Our Father: ". . .forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespassed against us. . ." In other words, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is telling us to be merciful toward others as our Father in heaven is merciful toward us (Luke 6:36).
Forgiveness is hard because we feel that if we forgive someone that we are, in a way, letting them "off the hook", that they are "getting off easy." We would rather withhold forgiveness but when we do that, we also hold on to the rage, anger, and resentment that come with unforgiveness. However, unforgiveness binds us, robs us of our joy and peace, and leads us down a dark and lonely path.
Ever since Fr. Charlie came to our CALLED TO BE ONE Marriage Class and talked to the couples about forgiveness, I have made it a point to invite them to reflect on any areas of unforgiveness that they harbor toward each other, talk about it with each other, and forgive each other so that they can enter into the Sacrament of Marriage free from the yolk of unforgiveness.
This is the same invitation that our Lord tells us in today's Gospel parable - to forgive as our Father forgives us; to be merciful as our Father is merciful. Below is a link to an article on saints and forgiveness. We can learn a lot from these great saints.
Article: "The Saints Can Teach Us How to Forgive" https://catholicexchange.com/the-saints-can-teach-us-how-to-forgive/
. . .
Gospel of the Day
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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