Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” — Matthew 18:22

     Forgive seventy times seven times. In the Bible, it means “infinity.” It means you have to forgive every slight, every insult, every injury at every moment, every hour of every day, because God has already forgiven us for the things we did and the things we will do.

      So it’s just right that we extend the same mercy to others.

      I used to think that I’ve covered “seventy times seven times,” because there was a time when each time I remembered my father, I had to forgive him. Each time I got angry, I had to forgive him. I had to ask God for forgiveness, because no person should ever carry that much anger in their heart.

    I used to forgive because I had to, because God said so, but not because I wanted to. But one time during worship, I felt it — God’s boundless grace. His relentless love. And when you are swimming in such overwhelming love, you can’t not overflow.

     God died, so we could be free — from death. From sin. From hate. From anger.

Reflection: Is there someone you need to forgive today? Think about God’s love… and then overflow.

Dear Lord, Your grace and love are relentless. May we overflow this love to others, no matter how difficult. Teach us how to forgive. Amen.

One of the patterns of the Old Testament in conferring authority from one leader to the next is that they perform similar signs and wonders to demonstrate, in this case, that the spirit that was with Moses has been passed on to Joshua. We see a similar thing with Elijah and Elisha, and then with Jesus and His Apostles. It makes the link between one leader and the next very clear and indisputable.

7 The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know I am with you, as I was with Moses. 8 Now command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant to come to a halt in the Jordan when you reach the edge of the waters.” 9 So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord, your God.” 10 This is how you will know that there is a living God in your midst, who at your approach will dispossess the Canaanites. 11 The ark of the covenant of the Lord of the whole earth will precede you into the Jordan. 13 When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the Lord, the Lord of the whole earth, touch the water of the Jordan, it will cease to flow; for the water flowing down from upstream will halt in a solid bank.” 14 The people struck their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of them. 15 No sooner had these priestly bearers of the ark waded into the waters at the edge of the Jordan, which overflows all its banks during the entire season of the harvest, 16 than the waters flowing from upstream halted, backing up in a solid mass for a very great distance indeed, from Adam, a city in the direction of Zarethan; while those flowing downstream toward the Salt Sea of the Arabah disappeared entirely. Thus the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 While all Israel crossed over on dry ground, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord remained motionless on dry ground in the bed of the Jordan until the whole nation had completed the passage.

1 When Israel came forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of alien tongue, 2 Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his domain. (R) 3 The sea beheld and fled; Jordan turned back. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like the lambs of the flock. (R) 5 Why is it, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn  back? 6 You mountains, that you skip like rams? You hills, like the lambs of the flock? (R)

The forgiveness of Christ is infinite and He tells His disciples that we have to learn to choose to forgive every time a person sins against us. We do not have to accept and excuse what they are doing, but we choose to forgive out of love for them and for God. We will not allow irreparable damage to come to our relationships with them. This is one of the great challenges of a disciple of Jesus. If Jesus is willing to forgive us, we need to be willing to forgive others as well.

Let your countenance shine upon your servant and teach me your statutes.

21 Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. 23 That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. 25 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. 26 At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ 27 Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. 28 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.’ 29 Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. 31 Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. 32 His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 33 Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ 34 Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. 35 So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” 19:1 When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.

Read the Bible in one year Job 10-13

T O D A Y’S BLESSING LIST

thank You, Lord, for: ______________________________________________________

THE RELIEF WE GET

FROM FORGIVENESS

Today we start with another book of the Old Testament — that of Joshua. Under the leadership of this anointed successor of Moses, the Israelite nation crossed the Jordan River with dry feet, just as they also once did on the Red Sea. And at last, they entered the Promised Land.

       There is a feeling of relief when something that you have been working on for some time reaches its fruitful conclusion at last. And it’s the same when we make an effort to do the difficult but rewarding act of forgiving one another. It is challenging, and nobody said that it’s easy. But imagine the relief if we get to do it — and likewise the anguish if we refuse to forgive. It’s as though both the king and the torturers in our Gospel parable today will give us a difficult time because of our hardness of heart and unforgiveness.

       We may as well take the necessary steps to forgive. We must forgive if we want to be forgiven ourselves. Conversely, we forgive others because we have experienced being forgiven by others, most especially by God in His infinite mercy. It’s that same mercy of God which is the key. We just have to allow it to flow onto others, who incidentally are also in need of mercy and forgiveness.

         Once again, nobody said that forgiveness would be a walk in the park. But it is not at all impossible. It may be something divine and beyond our human capability, but again it is not impossible. We just have to dispose or allow ourselves to be conduits or bridges, allowing God’s forgiveness to pass through us, to reach others. Then we would have reached the “Promised Land” as well: the promised land of God’s love and mercy. Fr. Martin Macasaet, SDB

---------- REFLECTION QUESTION ----------

What efforts have you done to make yourself an instrument of God’s forgiveness?

Forgive us, dear Lord. We have languished in our hatred and indifference. You are finally freeing us from our chains. Give us now strength and power to forgive others as well. Amen.