The WORD
today (see http://usccb.org/bible/readings/081717.cfm)
reminds me that I should pay forward whatever I receive from God.
Forgiveness is not an easy
thing to do. When we get hurt, we usually want to even the score and hurt
others the way they have hurt us. This is probably why Peter asked Jesus in the
gospel how many times God wants them to forrgive. Syempre,
pag paulit ulit, nakakainis. We want to set a limit, seven is a very
generous number. When one reaches that limit, we want to be assured that it’s
okay not to forgive anymore. We want affirmation from God that we have done our
part already - similar to the affirmation wanted by the man who asked Jesus how
to get eternal life. But Jesus told Peter that they should forgive not seven,
but seventy-seven times. In essence, God wants
us to always forgive. He then illustrated it by a story, telling and
reminding us that we should forgive others just as God the Father forgives us
for all the sins we commit.
God wants us to pay his goodness forward.
Just
as God forgives us all the time for all the sins against him, so should we
forgive others whose sins to us are very small compared to our sins against
God. This is applicable not only for forgiveness, but for all God has given us.
God’s love, blessings and goodness we experience in our lives should not stop
on us. They should be shared to others. We should be generous and extend these
to others, especially the least, the last, and the lost.
The only way to
multiply God’s love is to share them with others.
God will
be more real and more alive in this world if we do our part. If we share our blessings,
if we geniunely forgive others, and if we allow God to love through us, then in
our own little way, we can be Jesus to others in this world. This is the best way
to pass on God to others. This is the best way to repay him for everything.
May
we allow God to love and forgive us, and may it move us to allow God to love
and forgive others through us.
Father God,
Thank you for
today. Thank you for another day to live. Thank you for another chance to love
and serve you. Thank you for the reminder. Thank you for loving me and
forgiving me. Thank you for all the blessings. Sorry for the times I am not
willing to be used by you. Sorry for the times I do not let you love me and
fill me. Sorry for being selfish and loving myself more than others. Lord, help
me have a generous heart. May I be an instrument of your love and forgiveness
on earth as I experience them. Help me be a willing vessel and make you more
alive in this world through my life. Amen.
Blessed
day!
In
Christ,
-g-
Ps
See
related reflection:
August 17, 2017
Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 416
Reading 1JOS 3:7-10A, 11, 13-17
"Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel,
that they may know I am with you, as I was with Moses.
Now command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant
to come to a halt in the Jordan
when you reach the edge of the waters."
So Joshua said to the children of Israel,
"Come here and listen to the words of the LORD, your God.
This is how you will know that there is a living God in your midst,
who at your approach will dispossess the Canaanites.
The ark of the covenant of the LORD of the whole earth
will precede you into the Jordan.
When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the LORD,
the Lord of the whole earth,
touch the water of the Jordan, it will cease to flow;
for the water flowing down from upstream will halt in a solid bank."
The people struck their tents to cross the Jordan,
with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of them.
No sooner had these priestly bearers of the ark
waded into the waters at the edge of the Jordan,
which overflows all its banks
during the entire season of the harvest,
than the waters flowing from upstream halted,
backing up in a solid mass for a very great distance indeed,
from Adam, a city in the direction of Zarethan;
while those flowing downstream toward the Salt Sea of the Arabah
disappeared entirely.
Thus the people crossed over opposite Jericho.
While all Israel crossed over on dry ground,
the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD
remained motionless on dry ground in the bed of the Jordan
until the whole nation had completed the passage.
Responsorial PsalmPS 114:1-2, 3-4, 5-6
When Israel came forth from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of alien tongue,
Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his domain.
R. Alleluia!
The sea beheld and fled;
Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like the lambs of the flock.
R. Alleluia!
Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
You mountains, that you skip like rams?
You hills, like the lambs of the flock?
R. Alleluia!
AlleluiaPS 119:135
Let your countenance shine upon your servant
and teach me your statutes.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GospelMT 18:21–19:1
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused.
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed,
and went to their master and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart."
When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee
and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
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