MY daily reflection and prayer:
Thursday, August 11, 2016
Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Memorial of Saint Clare, Virgin
Dear my friends,
Here is the Gospel for us today according to St. Matthew 18:21-19:1
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 his brother from his heart.” When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ.
***
THE Jesus’ answer to Peter in todays Gospel, “not seven times but seventy-seven times,” points to a heroic living of the virtue of charity and forgiveness. He himself has done it to those who crucified him. He gives us the best and perfect example of that kind of love.
Surely, the “seventy-seven times” that Jesus speaks about is measured against the Cross. It is the symbol of the Lord’s infinite love and forgiveness.
In the Perpetual Adoration of the Eucharist, while adoring Jesus Christ we learn to purge our own hearts of the evil of harshness. We ask him that he grants us a more forgiving heart! Do we try to imitate his endless love and forgiveness in ways both big and small?
Let’s pray: Lord Jesus Christ, we can only be amazed at your work through the soul of all saints and martyrs. You enabled them to lay down their life for another, in imitation of your own self-sacrificing love. Help us to embrace the same path of love and forgiveness now and forever. Amen.
Kredit foto: Ilustrasi (Ist)
