Mass Reflection: Forgiveness Beyond the Point the Heart August 14th 2025

Daily Mass Bible Readings

First Reading: (Joshua 3:7–11, 13–17)

Responsorial Psalm: (Psalm 114)

Gospel: (Matthew 18:21–19:1)

Lord, it is me again, your boy. I am off today and here to spend the morning with you at St. Pio Church ⛪️. 

“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:21–22)

“If you do not forgive your brother from your heart, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you.” (Matthew 18:35)

In the Gospel, Peter asks Jesus how often he must forgive. He thinks he is being generous with “seven times,” but Jesus raises the bar infinitely: seventy times seven. In other words, forgiveness has no limit, no expiration date, and no exception clauses. Times without number. Seventy times seven is more than we can track, and that is the point.

Yesterday, Jesus told us to treat our offenders like Gentiles and tax collectors, meaning to pray for them, love them, and never give up on them. Today, He takes us deeper: forgive them every time, no matter how often they wrong us. There is no offense too great to forgive, no reason to withhold mercy.

Why do we find it hard to forgive?

• Is it because the offense feels too great?

• Because it came from someone close, family, spouse, sibling, or friend?

• Because they never apologized or showed remorse?

• Because we believe they do not deserve it?

• Or is it simply because the wound still hurts too much to let go?

Whatever the reason, Jesus invites us to shift focus, from our offenders to ourselves. Let us place ourselves in the role of the offender before God. How many times have we sinned against Him, confessed the same sin over and over, and yet been met with His patience and mercy? God stretches His rope of forgiveness far beyond the breaking point for us to live.

If the Lord kept a record of our guilt, who would survive? If He forgives us so freely, how can we deny that same mercy to others?

In the parable, the servant who owed an unpayable debt was forgiven, yet he refused to forgive a far smaller debt from a fellow servant. The same words, “Be patient with me”, were spoken to him, yet he showed no patience. We do the same when we hold grudges for small offenses, forgetting our enormous debt to God that has been wiped clean.

Forgiveness is not about whether the other person deserves it. It is about our own need for God’s mercy. If we do not forgive, Jesus warns, our heavenly Father will not forgive us.

God bless you,

Pal Ronnie