Tuesday of the Third Week

Reflection

How many times has someone hurt you?  How many times have you had to forgive someone?  How many times has it been the same person?

Forgiveness isn’t always something that comes easy to us.  Especially when someone has seriously wronged you. Some days it may be very difficult for us to forgive someone, other days it may come easy to us.  We tend to hold onto the pain and hurt much longer than we should. It affects us and our relationship with the person who has wronged us. In the Gospel of Matthew, Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive.  Jesus’ response is, “not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

When we see the parable of the unmerciful servant, we see a servant who asked for forgiveness from his master and was given it.  However, when a fellow servant wronged him in the same exact way, the first servant threw him in prison.  This parable can be paralleled to our own lives in many ways.  Through the sacrament of reconciliation, we ask God (the master) for forgiveness for our sins.  However, when someone asks us for forgiveness, do we readily and wholeheartedly give it?

Prayer

Lord, I ask You to help me find peace in the sins others have done against me.  Give me strength to wholeheartedly give forgiveness. Lord, help me to forgive others like You forgive me.

Maura Grogan, ’14

Scripture
First Reading: Deuteronomy 3:25, 34-43
Psalm: 25:4-5ab, 6-9
Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website