The Source of True Forgiveness

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18:21-35.
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
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 the fellow servant 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
We could all understand where Peter was coming from. He knows that as a disciple of the Lord he must forgive his brothers. He wants Jesus to know this and he wants to impress his Master. His proposal was already exceptional. To "forgive seven times" is to forgive in a complete and perfect way. After all, in Jewish numerology and symbolism, the number seven stands as the perfect number.

There was however a fundamental flaw in Peter's proposal. He still had a measure in mind.  He thought he was already generous in his own standards and that is where the flaw is. The standard was set on Peter's preference. If forgiveness were a marathon, Peter knew he could run a 100k but was proposing to run 200k for Jesus. Yet for Jesus, forgiveness is just running until you reach the horizon - it should have no measure, no limits.

Jesus shows us through the parable that a Christian's forgiveness is a reflection of his love, a love for the Father and his neighbor. That love must reflect the first love - the love of God for us all, one that is without measure and without limits. So, forgiveness must be without measure, without limits. Sure, we are but humans whose patience sometimes run out and whose expectations always needs to be met. But as a Christian, we are to love with the love of God. I love not because of who I am but because of how God has loved me. I forgive not because I can but because I have been forgiven. God is the measure and the limit of Christian love and forgiveness.

Martyrdom Today

Today we celebrate our Blessed Mother, our Lady of Sorrows. Fulfilling Simeon's prophecy of her during the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, her presence during the Passion and Death of our Lord on the Cross saw a sword pierced through her heart. It is an unimaginable experience for a mother to witness the butchery and killing of her own son. No one has to experience a helplessness in front of inhumane brutality. Yet our Mother accepted all that in silence and in faith. Though her eyes are still veiled to the sight of what's to come, she still set her eyes to the only Person she has left in the world, her only Son hanging on the Cross.

I believe our august Lady has set forth the real meaning of martyrdom. Our world today has always been in a game of running away from pain. The preoccupation for comfort and luxury, of speed and efficiency, of convenience and accessibility all speak of an attitude that runs away from pain and suffering. We are mentally trained to shy away from the difficult.

But life has always been difficult. It is an existential fact that humanity has to undergo. What the Cross offers us is not an exemption slip from the rigors of daily life but an option to find meaning in its harsh realities. Christian martyrdom is not a masochistic preference for pain and suffering in the hope of holiness and purification. We are made holy in our sufferings and purified in our trials by finding in our personal struggles the value of the Cross. Our blessed Mother stayed with Jesus through His suffering and joined in that suffering. Today, we are suffering and are invited to allow Jesus and Mary to join us in our suffering, to find meaning in the confusion and senselessness of pain.

It is in the staying-with that martyrdom has a place in our Christian lives. When a person stands by us in the midst of suffering and pain, it is a sign of love. There might not be a reason and purpose for suffering as of now and it is by faith that we hold on. But we hold on, and Jesus and Mary holds on with us, because love that endures pain is the meaning of martyrdom.

The Cost of Sin

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18:15-20.
Jesus said to his disciples:
"If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that 'every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.'
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you,
if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them."

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Reflection
We are all aware of the reality of sin. We have our own first hand experience of sinfulness. It is triggered by our human weakness, takes advantage of our passions, and betrays our logic. Yet the pain of sin is not only personal, it is always social. People are affected by our choices and the ones who feel the pain most are those closest to us. This experience of pain, suffering, and death was never the plan of God for us. St. Paul would say in Romans 6:23, "the wages of sin is death".

Jesus too is aware of human frailty. While we are easy to despair at our brokenness, Jesus provides the mechanism to heal wounds of division. It is an act of charity to correct one's brother or sister. It is an act of charity to lead them back to good and right. It might be difficult but it is the best course of action. It is the most just thing in the world because we are not anymore focusing on the consequence of sin. After Jesus' Passion and Death on the Cross, the focus now is in the original plan of God for us. God has always planned for us to live His life.

From the despair of death we have moved towards hope in life. So to correct a family member is to bring him back to Life. And to support one another in the group towards Christian perfection is to put true Life in the group. To condone, to be complacent however is to allow sin to corrupt a person and a community. The true cost of sin that one may win back life is not death but love, a love that expresses itself by looking out for one another, a love that binds the community together, a love in which Christ manifests Himself to us.

The Real Cross of Christian Life

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 16:21-27.
Jesus began to show his disciples
that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly
from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,
and be killed and on the third day be raised.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him,
"God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you."
He turned and said to Peter,
"Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.
You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

Then Jesus said to his disciples,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life?
Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct."

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Reflection
The image of the cross has always meant suffering. Opponents have derided us Christians as Masochists for preaching the cross. It is indeed foolish for anyone who lacks faith in it. For Christ we have become fools but among us who believe the cross is the instrument of salvation.

The cross is the symbol of Christ's obedience through which we were saved. Against the natural instinct of self-preservation, Jesus chose to lay down His life on the cross. And thus it became for us a sign of salvation. Like Jesus we have to carry our daily crosses if only to learn Christ's obedience and make it our own.

The Prophet Jeremiah points to the inner motive for the cross. The Word of God that burned in the prophets heart overruled his very life. He rightly complained, "you have duped me, Lord!" So it was with Jesus who chose to face the suffering of the cross against Peter's protest. That love for the Word and Will of the Father did not overrule His life but ruled everything that He is, did, and said.

In Jesus is a different kind of cross. In His heart weighs a love for the Father that burns from within wishing to consume everything that it touches. It is that love that impels Him to go beyond. It is the very soul of His life.