Thursday 12 August 2021
St Jane Frances de Chantal
Joshua 3:7-11, 13-17. Alleluia! – Psalm 113A (114):1-6. Matthew 18:21 – 19:1.
How often must I forgive my brother?
The mercy of God is not of the order of human mercy – it goes beyond our subterranean desires for vengeance or distorted sense of justice. The comparison between the merciful master and the unmerciful servant in today’s Gospel reminds us that if God’s mercy is truly as far reaching as it is described, we cannot accept it without extending that same mercy towards others. Receiving God’s mercy must so transform us that we are able to forgive others. Receiving God’s mercy means recognising in ourselves the potential to do even the gravest of harm. Acknowledging this potential, and being moved beyond it by God’s mercy, we can also see our potential to make the spacious and radical gesture of forgiveness.
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