Memory of the Mother of the Lord

Reading of the Word of God

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

The Spirit of the Lord is upon you.
The child you shall bear will be holy.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Matthew 18,21-35

Then Peter went up to him and said, 'Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?' Jesus answered, 'Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times. 'And so the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master's feet, with the words, "Be patient with me and I will pay the whole sum." And the servant's master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow-servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him, saying, "Pay what you owe me." His fellow-servant fell at his feet and appealed to him, saying, "Be patient with me and I will pay you." But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow-servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for the man and said to him, "You wicked servant, I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow-servant just as I had pity on you?" And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.'

 

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Look down, O Lord, on your servants.
Be it unto us according to your word.

Praise to you, o Lord, King of eternal glory

Peter approaches Jesus and asks him how many times he should forgive and in order to show his willingness, Peter makes a generous offer: seven times. Not only does Peter want to go beyond the normal instinct of the law of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," but he is ready to do more than what is required. Jesus responds in a way high like heaven: "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times," that is, always. Forgiveness, like love, is without limits and borders. This is the only way to dismantle the mechanism that continuously regenerates sin, division, and revenge among men and women. Seeing Peter's perplexity, Jesus speaks of a king who is settling his accounts with his servants. One of them has an enormous debt and mumbles a promise that truly he will never be able to keep and asks the king to be patient. Because of his magnanimity, the king generously cancels his entire debt. However, this generosity does not change the servant's heart. And when he meets another servant who owed him a very small debt, he seizes the servant by the throat as if to choke him. Jesus concludes the parable with a resolute condemnation of the greedy and wicked servant by the king. Those who allow themselves to be led by the hardness of their hearts will be punished by their same hardness. With this parable, Jesus reminds us that we are all debtors in front of God, and he invites us to thank the Lord for his great mercy that forgives everything. Let us be vigilant and try to imitate God's mercy. This is why in the prayer of the Our Father Jesus has us say: "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."