Dear Friends,
This Sunday, Jesus once again gives us one of the most challenging teachings in the Gospel: forgive, and do not keep count. Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive someone who hurts him. Seven times seems generous. But Jesus responds, “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
Jesus isn’t giving Peter a bigger number to keep track of. He is telling him—and telling us—that forgiveness was never meant to be a scorecard.
Then Jesus tells the story of a servant whose enormous debt is completely forgiven by his master. It is a debt he could never possibly repay. Yet almost immediately, that same servant encounters someone who owes him a much smaller amount. Instead of offering the mercy he has just received, he demands what is owed. It is a powerful reminder of how easily we can forget.
We can be incredibly grateful for God’s mercy toward us while sometimes struggling to extend that same mercy toward someone else. Most of us know what it is like to be hurt. We remember the words that were spoken, the trust that was broken, the disappointment we experienced, or the person who failed us when we needed them most. Some wounds are deep, and some take years to heal. Jesus does not tell us that those wounds don’t matter.
Forgiveness does not mean pretending that nothing happened. It does not mean excusing harmful behavior, abandoning healthy boundaries, or immediately restoring trust. Sometimes forgiveness and reconciliation are two very different things. Forgiveness means refusing to let the wound become the master of our heart. It means slowly placing the anger, resentment, and desire for revenge into God’s hands and saying, “Lord, I cannot carry this anymore. Help me to let it go.” And sometimes forgiveness is not a single decision. Sometimes it is something we must choose again tomorrow—and the day after that.
Perhaps there is someone in our lives whom we need to forgive. Perhaps there is an old hurt that we continue to carry. Perhaps the person we most need to forgive is ourselves. Whatever it may be, Jesus reminds us that we cannot fully appreciate the mercy we have received from God without allowing that mercy to flow through us to others. Every one of us has needed forgiveness. Every one of us has needed another chance. Every one of us has fallen short. And every one of us has been loved anyway. And THAT is the heart of the Gospel!
As we gather at Saint Miriam this Sunday, I pray that we might become a community where mercy is stronger than resentment, where compassion is greater than judgment, and where we remember that none of us stands before God because we have earned it. We stand because God is merciful.
May we receive that mercy with grateful hearts—and then have the courage to share it.
With my prayers and love, as always
Monsignor Jim