There is someone that I have a lot of trouble forgiving. Even now as I write this, I can’t say that I’ve fully forgiven her for what she did. I did everything I could to avoid her. I unfollowed her on social media. Just seeing her face triggers pain and anger that I do not have the psychological capacity to deal with. So I try to forget that she exists.

I pray for her at Mass every Sunday, and mention my anger every time I go to confession. And each time the Host is consecrated, each time I am absolved of my sins, I am reminded of God’s mercy . . . and my own human weaknesses. I cannot forgive on my own. I hold on to grudges and do not forget.

But God not only gives me a clean slate each time I ask for forgiveness. He also gives me the grace to pass it on. By my own strength, I am honestly unable to forgive. But with the grace of God and the gentle guidance of the Holy Spirit, reminded by the sacrifice of Jesus, I choose to forgive.

Karren Renz P. Seña (karren.sena@gmail.com)

reflect

Is there anyone in your life that you have trouble forgiving? It might be hard, but surrender that person to God. Surrender yourself to His mercy, so that you, too, can pass it forward.

God, I need Your help. I pray for the grace to forgive just as You have forgiven me and continue to forgive. May I never forget that I, too, am in constant need of Your mercy. Amen.

St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe, priest and martyr, pray for us.

The Ark of the Covenant preceded the Israelites into the Promised Land to show that it was God who would deliver the land into their hands, to the degree that they remained faithful to the covenant. Whenever the people forsook God and started to worship other gods, they became the slaves of other nations. 

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 they 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.

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 114:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

R: Alleluia!

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)

Gospel | Matthew 18:21–19:1

Peter must have been in conflict with one of the Apostles and is wondering how much longer he can take it. So, he asks Jesus how many times he has to forgive his brother. The Rabbis said four times; Peter is being generous and so he says seven times. But Jesus says, “No, not seven but an infinite number of times. Just as God our Father forgives us our sins countless of times.”

Gospel Acclamation

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

²¹ Peter approached Jesus 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! Read 2 MACCABEES 13 - 15 today.

Only Filipinos and those who have lived here long enough would immediately know what “unli” is all about. It stands for “unlimited” and the “unli” craze began with budget meals that featured unlimited servings of rice to accompany a modest piece of grilled chicken, generously slathered over with umami-filled oil.

In the Philippine setting, unli is life. And while popular food hubs offering unli rice have, of late, taken steps to mitigate a bit the other unli features, I think that the unli culture is here to stay for a long, long time.

Come to think of it more deeply: unli is what today’s Gospel speaks about in relation to something we cannot live without. It is about forgiveness, which is an important part of every Christian’s life. And it is more than just the fabled number seven. A number of fullness, a number that seeks no other augmentation, a number that stands for completeness and wholeness, but which the Lord takes to the limitless level by multiplying it a further seventy times. Now, that makes it unli!

But I need to be honest with you. The teaching is hard to swallow, pun intended! It is hard to forgive. Believe me. But maybe Marianne Williamson can help us get a glimpse of its importance. She wrote: “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison yourself and waiting for the other person to die.”

God does not ask us what is impossible. God does not require of us what He has not done Himself. He is an unli God, the world’s most tremendous Lover, armed with unli forgiveness. I submit as much: Love hurts. Love scars. Love wounds. And true love is like unto God’s: unli! 

Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

reflection question

Is there someone you need to forgive but cannot? Ask for God’s unli grace to do it.

Lord, You have forgiven me unlimited times. May I learn to do so, too, to those who have hurt me. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _______________________________