“Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?”

It has been said that when we have done something wrong, we want forgiveness and mercy, but when someone has done something wrong to us, we want justice and even vengeance.  The readings at mass today direct us to a central truth of our faith: we are to forgive others.

If we are in any doubt about this, the first reading from the Book of Sirach makes things very clear.  “The one who seeks vengeance will be paid vengeance…”  The writer continues, “Forgive your neighbour the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.”

The psalm celebrates the mercy and forgiveness of God.  “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in mercy…It is the Lord who forgives all your sins, who heals every one of your ills…”  

Finally, Jesus himself in the Gospel reading speaks very directly about forgiveness. Peter asks him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?  As many as seven times?”  Jesus answers, “…not…seven times, but seventy times seven.”  And of course, he does not mean 490 by this.  It is a way of saying an infinite number of times.

Then Jesus goes on to tell a parable in which a servant owes a king “ten thousand talents.”  A “talent” was equivalent to about 6,000 denarii, with a denarius being a day’s wage for a labourer. Therefore, ten thousand talents equalled about 60 million denarii, almost impossible to imagine and certainly to pay back.

When this servant is released from his debt, instead of being grateful, he finds a fellow servant who owed him just one hundred denarii and even started to choke him in his demand for the debt to be repaid.  This story by Jesus is certainly a dramatic and exaggerated illustration of our own lack of forgiveness in the sight of the forgiveness that God offers us.

So, as often, I remind you that the Confession is available before both the main weekend masses.  God bless, Fr Kevin.