Forgiveness is Forever!

Our gospel for today, Matthew 18:21-19:1, opens with a discourse between Peter and Jesus. Peter asks our 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." It is easy to get caught up in the numbers but hopefully we do not start counting how many times that we forgive someone. Instead, there are no boundaries to forgiveness, it is forever. A term that I remember from algebra class is "infinitely many." We are called to be loving, compassionate, merciful, and forgiving. When we have been hurt by others it might be difficult to forgive but we know that is the way to move on. We cannot let the hurt eat at us. We need to move towards forgiveness and reconciliation and hopefully in that we can find peace. Our Lord was also heard to say that we need to forgive our brother from our heart. It needs to be a true act of forgiveness, coming from the heart, and that is where the love of God dwells. Forgiveness is a beautiful gift and we need to pray for that gift each day. As our Heavenly Father has forgiven us, so we must do the same for others. There are no limits to forgiveness, it is forever. God Bless!