This Week
Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
13/9/2026
September is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows
INFINITE FORGIVENESS
In the Gospel reading today (Matthew 18:21-35) Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive his brother if he continues to sin against him. As many as seven times? Jesus says to him ‘I do not say to you seven times but seventy times’. The actual number here is not strictly relevant, he means every time, an infinite number of times. Infinity is a number so large that it cannot be described. What Jesus is saying here is that Peter needs to forgive his brother every time his brother sins against him.
To put it another way, Peter should not keep a ledger recording the times he has forgiven his brother, so that he could perhaps ask for a favour or pay-back later on. No, he is being asked to forgive and forget each and every time. This might sound hard, and it is.
Jesus then demonstrates this principal with the parable of the unmerciful servant. The king wants to recover his dept from a servant. The only way the king will get his money back is if he sells the servant, the servant’s wife, his children and possessions, which is an unimaginably desperate situation. The servant pleads to the king for mercy which is granted and the king, in his kindness, cancels the entire dept. The servant then goes to one of his fellow servants, demands the money he is owed while strangling him. His peers report this to the king who recalls the servant and throws him into jail until he repays all of the dept. Jesus says ‘his heavenly Father will do this to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart’.
This is a strong message, which is perhaps difficult to take on board. Before we ask for forgiveness, we are required to forgive others totally and unconditionally. Only then can we ask the Lord for forgiveness and make regular use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We pray this every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us’.
With my best wishes,
Deacon Peter
Readings at Mass Today
First Reading
Psalm
Second Reading
Gospel
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