My Dear People,

Today the reading of Sirach and the Gospel of Matthew deals with forgiveness.  The passage of Sirach contains three groups of sayings on one theme: seek peace and reconciliation, not discord.  The first group has to do with forgiveness: one needs to forgive others in order to be forgiven oneself. 

The second group gives the various reasons for not bearing grudges against one’s neighbor.

The third warns against getting into arguments because they only make matters worse. 

Our Lord may have had these or similar sayings in mind when he taught the Our Father. Forgive our debts as we also forgive our debtors. (Mat. 16:12). “Christian prayer extends to the forgiveness of enemies (cf. Mt. 5:43-44).  Forgiveness is a high point of Christian prayer, only hearts attuned to God’s compassion can receive the gift of prayer. Forgiveness also bears witness that, in our world, love is stronger than sin. Forgiveness is the fundamental condition of the children of God with their Father and of men with one another. St John Chrysostom, quoting 28:2-4. wrote, “Although you may not deliberately do harm to your enemies, if you fail to show goodwill to them and leave the wound open on their souls, you are disobeying the commandment laid down by Christ. How can you ask God to treat you with good grace, if you yourself do not show mercy to those who have sinned against you?”  (De compunction, 1,5)

In the gospel when Peter asks Jesus how many times to forgive, he feels proud to forgive seven times, after all seven is a good number and he feels that he is being very generous. However, Peter limits himself. He is saying I will forgive him so many times, and eventually there will be no need to forgive any more, or he has done enough and maybe if the offender keeps transgressing, after seven times that is enough. We do this many times. We limit the way we want others to respond. We assume that they know what we are thinking and since we have been generous enough, in placing a limit we hope they arrive to the point where they will learn their lessons. Really?  How often does God forgive us for the same sins over and over. God is never bored or exhausted with continually forgiving us of our sins time after time. God wants us to receive his graces, and he wants the best for us. So, when Jesus told Peter that he must forgive 70 times 7. Jesus is telling Peter that God is willing to forgive him every single time for his transgression and he wants him to do the same with the one who sins against him.  In this passage Jesus is telling us the mind and the heart of God. God is very generous and loving, and that is expressed in the fact that he always forgives us whenever we ask, and we should not feel ashamed to ask-- that is go to confession and ask for forgiveness. Because God shows his love to us through forgiveness, he wants us also to be forgiving and just as generous. There is no limit to the love of God.  

Yours in Christ, 

Fr. Vincent Clemente