13 Sep 2020. Cycle A-2020. 24th Sunday OT. Sir 27:30—28:7 + Rom 14:7-9 + Mt 18:21-35

Peter asked Jesus, “LORD, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”

Jesus answered, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven”

“LORD,” I interrupted, “Peter was even very accommodating. I forgave my offending brother very often, but this only emboldened him to keep on repeating the same things that offended me. He might have thought that I was too weak to resist.”

The LORD looked at me in rebuke, “How many times do you come to me confessing the same sins over and over? I can even memorize the words you describe your sins, and the frequency you committed each one of them. I would have said, ‘You never stop. You never learn. You are a hopeless case. I find it more convenient to just cancel you.”

“My LORD,” I begged, “please understand that my sins are addicting. Just as you said, ‘The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.’ I could not control my urges.”

“Of course, I know that,” the LORD answered. “That is the reason I keep on forgiving the same sins you confess, even if I know that you will commit them a hundred times more.”

I was too ashamed to answer back. I remember what the LORD taught me – the LORD will forgive my many sins just as I forgive those who sin many times against me (cf. Mt 6:12). VSS

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