St. Jane Frances de Chantal, religious  

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊     

Joshua 3:7-10a, 11, 13-17

 

Ps 114:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

I will walk before the Lord, in the land of the living.

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊ 

Matthew 18:21 – 19-1

 Then Peter asked him,

“Lord, how many times must I forgive the offenses of my brother or sister? Seven times?”   Jesus answered, “No, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.   This story throws light on the kingdom of heaven. A king decided to settle the accounts of his servants.   

Among the first was one who owed him ten thousand gold ingots.  As the man could not repay the debt, the king commanded that he be sold as a slave with his wife, children and all his goods in payment.

The official threw himself at the feet of the king and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay you back everything.’   The king took pity on him and not only set him free but even canceled his debt.

 This official then left the king’s presence and he met one of his companions who owed him a hundred pieces of silver. He grabbed him by the neck and almost strangled him, shouting, ‘Pay me what you owe!’  His companion threw himself at his feet and asked him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay everything.’  

The other did not agree, but sent him to prison until he had paid all his debt. His companions saw what happened. They were indignant and so they went and reported everything to their lord.

 Then the lord summoned his official and said, ‘Wicked servant, I forgave you all that you owed when you begged me to do so. Weren’t you bound to have pity on your companion as I had pity on you?’  The lord was now angry, so he handed his servant over to be punished, until he had paid his whole debt.”

 Jesus added, “So will my heavenly Father do with you unless each of you sincerely for­give your brother or sister.”  When Jesus had finished this teach­­ing, he left Galilee and arrived at the border of Judea, on the other side of the Jordan River.

 

 

Gospel Reflection：

 We can avail of God's mercy depending on our capacity to forgive. For we are the measure of ourselves. God's commandments are reference points for our action. But it is us who set the standard on how we are to be evaluated vis a vis God's law.

And so, we cannot say that God is strict and unforgiving. We cannot say that God is unfair. How we act is how we will be judged accordingly. Hence, salvation is a personal decision. It is freely given by God, but we have to be ready to receive it.

Take for example the gospel today. The official whose debt is forgiven by the King was not merciful to his fellow servant who owes him a much smaller debt. Yet he demanded repayment and had the poor fellow imprisoned until he should pay.

As a result he forfeited the forgiveness of his King. He could not receive it because there is no forgiveness in his heart. So the next time we complain to God about His sense of justice, remember, how we measure others is how God will measure us.