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Scripture readings<\/a> for Sunday, Sept. 13, Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n Sir 27:30\u201428:7\u00a0 Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12\u00a0 Rom 14:7-9\u00a0 Mt 18:21-35<\/p>\n How much is enough?<\/p>\n This Sunday\u2019s Gospel begins with Peter asking that question, but with a very specific idea in mind. How much do I have to forgive my brother? How many times? Seven? That should be enough, right? Right?<\/p>\n But what followed probably wasn\u2019t what Peter expected. \u201cJesus answered, \u2018I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.\u201d<\/p>\n He went on to explain with a parable about a forgiving king and an unforgiving servant, a man who paid a price \u2014 torture for being merciless. \u201cSo will my heavenly Father do to you,\u201d Jesus concluded, \u201cunless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.\u201d<\/p>\n That may have hit a lot of his listeners hard. It should still hit us that way, too. We live in a time when it is easy \u2014 even socially acceptable \u2014 to harbor grudges, to want revenge, to seek retribution for grievances or slights. Let\u2019s be honest: Nothing is more common, accepted or satisfying than payback.<\/p>\n But right here, in Matthew\u2019s Gospel, we encounter a hard lesson in humility, in grace, in striving to follow the example of our merciful Father. A lot of us may be trying to \u201clove one another as I have loved you\u201d \u2014 the very words we hear in the verse before the Gospel \u2014 but how often do we fall short?<\/p>\n How often do we let bitterness, jealousy or spite get the better of us and refuse to let it go? But so much is at stake.<\/p>\n Earlier in Matthew\u2019s Gospel, Jesus laid it on the line when he taught his apostles how to pray, with this familiar plea: \u201cForgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.\u201d (Mt. 6).<\/p>\n We speak those words so often that, maybe, they don\u2019t quite sink in. But this Sunday, let them sink in. Do we realize what we are saying?<\/p>\n This Gospel helps define what we need to do, and why. It challenges us to do something difficult, even painful. It teaches us this: remember that loving our neighbor is more than an act of kindness or a gesture of generosity. It\u2019s about more than visiting an elderly neighbor or adding an extra dollar or two to the collection basket for CRS.<\/p>\n It means letting go of hate. It means sacrificing our own pride and embracing humility. When a relationship becomes tangled by bitterness, grievances and hurt, it means doing something we might find unthinkable.<\/p>\n It means starting over. Beginning again. Trying to heal a deep and lasting wound.<\/p>\n It\u2019s tougher than it sounds. But if we find ourselves discomforted by these words when we hear them proclaimed from the pulpit during Mass \u2014 \u201cnot seven times, but seventy-seven times\u201d \u2014 maybe we need to let our eyes turn toward the sanctuary, and the man hanging on the cross.<\/p>\n In his last moments, Christ had the strength to pray, \u201cFather, forgive them.\u201d Could any of us summon that kind of mercy?<\/p>\n Jesus did it then, under the most savage circumstances imaginable. What about us? How do we respond to some spiteful gossip, a thoughtless comment, some backstabbing at the water cooler? How do we live with petty cruelty and indifference, or someone who just doesn\u2019t hold up his end of a bargain?<\/p>\n When I hear this Gospel, my memory automatically goes to the translation I heard in my youth, which said you don\u2019t forgive seven times, but 70 times seven.<\/p>\n That makes it even harder.<\/p>\n Looked at another way: this Gospel tells us we shouldn\u2019t engage in division or subtraction; work, instead, on multiplication. Not seven but 70 times seven.<\/p>\n The lesson here? Do the math. Pray. Then do the hardest thing of all. Forgive.<\/p>\n Deacon Greg Kandra is an award-winning author and journalist, and creator of the blog \u201cThe Deacon\u2019s Bench.\u201d<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n
We are human. We struggle. We fail. Forgiveness isn\u2019t easy.<\/p>\n