The unthankful heart... discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings!
- Henry Ward Beecher
(Take time this day to thank God for all the blessings you can call to mind; thank God for your struggles and hardships as well.) |
Ez 12:1-12; Ps 78:56-57, 58-59, 61-62
Mt 18:21-19:1
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“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.
Reflection on the
Scriptures |
“Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as
I had pity on you?”
We have all experienced the remarkable patience and the enduring mercy of God. But have we achieved the fullness of God’s purpose for us? Has receiving God’s mercy made us more merciful? God’s intention for us goes beyond mere reconciliation; God seeks our
transformation. We should ask: Who will I meet today who needs for me to be more patient? Who needs my understanding and love, my forgiveness? We do not know what burdens others carry, but we do know that ours have been lifted time and again by our gracious and merciful God.
“For gratitude for God’s mercy … for the desire to be more like God, we
pray.”
- from preacherexchange.com
Revelations of Divine
Love - by Julian of Norwich
Ninth Revelation, Chapter 23
“The Glad
Giver”
“All the Trinity wrought in the Passion of Jesus Christ”
For it is God’s will that we have true enjoying with Him in our salvation, and therein He willeth [that] we be mightily comforted and strengthened; and thus willeth He that merrily with His grace our soul be occupied. For we are His bliss:
for in us He enjoyeth without end; and so shall we in Him, with His grace.
And all that He hath done for us, and doeth, and ever shall, was never cost nor charge to Him, nor might be, but only that [which] He did in our manhood, beginning at the sweet Incarnation and lasting to the Blessed Uprise on Easter-morrow: so
long dured the cost and the charge about our redemption in deed: of [the] which deed He enjoyeth endlessly, as it is aforesaid.
|
|
|
