St Leonard Congregation recently issued the following announcement.

We hear another parable from Ma4hew’s Gospel this week. Peter asks Jesus how oZen he must forgive someone that sins against him, to which Jesus tells him he must forgive “not seven Emes, but seventyseven Emes.” He then tells a parable of a servant who has been forgiven of his enormous debts to a king but cannot forgive a smaller debt owed to him and is punished as a result. The story is simple but profound and the lesson could not be clearer: we are to forgive others as we have been forgiven by God.

 If you’re anything like me, forgiveness is not always an easy task and some2mes it seems easier to harbor a grudge than to forgive those who have wronged us. But when Jesus instructs us to forgive others “seventyseven” 2mes, he is gently reminding us that we too are sinful and imperfect and therefore must display the same sense of reconcilia2on that we have ul2mately been given by God. It may not be easy and it may hurt, but I find a great prayer of assistance for this task in the second and third verses of our offertory song today, “Healer of Our Every Ill”: “In the pain and joy beholding, how your grace is sEll unfolding; give us all your vision, God of love. Give us strength to love each other, every sister, every brother. Spirit of all kindness, be our guide.” 

Original source can be found here.