I grew up as the middle
boy of three sons. My older brother was one year and nine months older than I.
My younger brother was one year and seven months younger.
Like boys, we sometimes
disagreed, argued, called each other names and occasionally hit one another.
There were unkind words, hurt feelings and sometimes aches and bruises.
When this occurred, my
parents intervened and told us, sometimes very forcefully, to apologize. When
we were toddlers, they made us kiss and make up. By the time we were teenagers,
verbal apologies, however shallow, sufficed.
Forced fraternal
forgiveness kept the peace in our family, and most likely saved my parents from
the insane asylum.
In our gospel today,
Peter asks if he must forgive his brother up to seven times? Seven times?! Who
could forgive anyone up to seven times?! Yet, seven was the perfect number. So,
Peter’s act of forgiving someone seven times was very noble.
Sometimes, do you have
trouble forgiving a person who has embarrassed or insulted you? Don’t you think
they need to be punished? Don’t you think you should have the chance to get
even with that person? A lot of people think that way, and sometimes they make
a huge mistake by trying to get even.
Jesus reminds us that
because God has first forgiven us, we must forgive others not just once or
seven times, but seventy times seven times. In other words, Jesus does not
limit our forgiveness of other people because God’s forgiveness of us is
unlimited. So, today, be as forgiving as Jesus was to those who hurt him.
Let us pray. Heavenly
Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all
children, and give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so
that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom,
and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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