Qua bài Tin Mừng hôm nay Chúa Giêsu đã dạy cho chúng ta về việc cần thiết cho việc tha thứ cho nhau, "không phải là bảy lần mà thôi, nhưng phải bảy mươi lần bảy”. Bởi vì chúng ta cần nên phải có lòng thương xót và đại lượng với lòng từ bi như Chúa Cha của chúng ta trên trời.
Trong cuộc sống hiện tại, chúng ta có thể không thấy quá khó để tha thứ cho những người mà chúng ta yêu thích. Nhưng chúng ta lại cảm thấy rất khó để tha thứ cho những người mà chúng ta không ưa (thích) hay là những người đã làm tổn thương cho chúng ta về thân xác lẫn tinh thần.
Chắc chắn là chúng ta cần phải có ân sủng của Thiên Chúa để đánh động và cải hoá trái tim của chúng ta, để chúng ta có thể nhìn xa hơn về những tội phản nghịch và chống lại chúng ta, và để chúng ta có thể hiểu được và thông cảm với những người đã chống lại hay phản nghịch với chúng ta. Và từ đó, chúng ta mới có thể nhận ra rằng những người phản nghịch với chúng ta có thể thật sự là không biết những gì mà họ đã làm hay các hành vi của họ thực sự không có gì là đáng kể, hay là chúng ta có thể đã phóng đại những sự thiệt hại mà họ đã gây ra cho chúng ta. Điều quan trọng hơn là ân sủng của Thiên Chúa sẽ nhắc nhở chúng ta về lòng thương xót và sự tha thứ của Thiên Chúa đối với chúng ta trong những hành vi tội lỗi của chúng ta và Thiên Chúa luôn luôn tha thứ cho chúng ta, nhưng chúng ta cũng phải biết tha thứ cho những người còn mắc nợ chúng ta.
Reflection:
The Gospel reading speaks of the necessity that we forgive one another, "not seven times, but seventy-seven times" because we should be merciful and compassionate as our heavenly Father.
We may find not so hard to forgive those we like. But it is not easy to forgive those whom we do not like or who have gravely injured us. .
It takes God's grace to soften our hearts, to look beyond the offense committed against us, and to understand the offender. Then we may realize that the offender may not really know what he/she has done or that the offense is really not that great or that we may have over-stated the harm done to us.
More important, God's grace will remind us of God's mercy and forgiveness to us for our own many offenses and that God will forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Someone once said, ‘the only way to be able to forgive others without limits is to live in the grateful awareness of the Father’s infinite love and forgiveness we have already received!
Our “debt” to the Father is immeasurable in comparison with our neighbour’s “debt” to us. How can we pass on God’s Forgiveness to those who have wronged us? Praying for them: Thinking first about whether we’ve done anything wrong ourselves; dropping the issue and letting them know it’s past history; looking for ways to show kindness to them. Forgiveness must come from the heart! It must be profound and absolute! v27. “The servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt, altogether!” The servant received extravagant mercy from the king, but responded to another with extravagant mercilessness! I forgive but I cannot forget, is not truly Christian. Father, forgive them for they know not what they do!
Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time 2026
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.”Mt. 18:21-22
In the Book of the Prophet Amos, a poetic formula is repeated: “For three crimes of Damascus, and now four—I will not take it back…” (cf. Amos 1). By the time of Jesus, rabbinic tradition had adopted the interpretation of this passage to mean that God forgives three times, but not four and, therefore, so should we: “When a person commits a transgression the first time, he is forgiven; a second time, he is forgiven; a third time, he is forgiven; but the fourth time, he is not forgiven” (Yoma 86b).
In today’s Gospel, Peter’s question is generous but still rooted in human calculation. His question follows immediately after Jesus teaches about fraternal correction. Peter, taking in this instruction and knowing the rabbinic tradition, more than doubles the expected number of times to forgive, suggesting seven. But Jesus immediately corrects him—not to reject his generosity, but to elevate it: “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” This phrase, “seventy-seven times,” is not a literal number; it signifies that forgiveness must be limitless, reflecting the boundless mercy of God. It is not merely a command to repeat acts of forgiveness, but an invitation to let our hearts be formed by Divine Mercy.
The parable Jesus tells in response to Peter’s question offers deeper insight into His meaning. It echoes the fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” A king has a servant who owes him a huge amount—an unpayable debt, symbolizing the incalculable weight of our sin before God. When the servant begs for patience, the king goes beyond all expectation: he forgives the entire debt out of compassion. But that same servant, having just received mercy, encounters a fellow servant who owes him only a small amount. Rather than extending the mercy he himself had received, he becomes violent, demanding repayment and imprisoning the man. The king, upon hearing this, is enraged—not merely because of injustice, but because of the servant’s utter failure to mirror the mercy he had been shown. Jesus concludes with a sobering warning: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”
Limitless forgiveness is very difficult unless we have a deep and abiding gratitude for the Divine Mercy God has shown us. Our debt before God is incalculable. We could never repay it on our own. Though we might be tempted to think, “I’m a good person,” Scripture reminds us: “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God”. Without Jesus taking on our human condition and paying the debt of our sin through His suffering and death, we could not be saved. Grasping this truth and allowing it to penetrate our hearts is essential to living the Christian life. Only when we become keenly aware of the mercy God has poured into our lives can we foster true gratitude. And it is that gratitude that must inspire and compel us to offer the same limitless mercy to everyone who sins against us—no exceptions, no conditions. Just as we have been forgiven, so must we forgive, from the heart.
Reflect today on how deeply you are aware of the mercy God has shown you. Do you take it for granted, or have you allowed it to transform you? Consider especially those you struggle to forgive. Let gratitude for God’s mercy soften your heart. From that softened heart, choose to forgive—not seven times, but seventy-seven times and beyond. In doing so, you will reflect the very heart of God and become a vessel of His saving grace in the world.
Most merciful Jesus, there is no limit to the love and forgiveness You continuously offer us. We are indebted to You with our very lives. Please give me the grace I need to be truly grateful for Your Divine Mercy and to express that gratitude by showing the same limitless mercy to all. Use me, dear Lord, as a vessel of Your grace and tender care. Jesus, I trust in You.
Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time 2026
Opening Prayer: Lord God, your mercy is beyond all measure. Though I have sinned against you countless times, you never tire of calling me back through your grace. Fill my heart with gratitude for the forgiveness I have received, and free me from resentment, bitterness, and the desire for revenge. As you have shown me mercy,
Encountering the Word of God
1. How Often Should I Forgive? In the Ecclesial Sermon, Jesus founds life in the Church not on committees, fundraisers, and planning sessions, but on humble service, concern for little ones, and seeking out the lost (Matthew 18:1-14). After hearing Jesus’ instructions on bringing about reconciliation, Peter naturally asks, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Peter's suggestion already exceeds the ordinary expectations of his day, yet Jesus’ response shatters every attempt to place limits on mercy: “Not seven times, but seventy times seven.” Jesus immediately illustrates this command through the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. A servant is forgiven an unimaginably large debt that he could never hope to repay, yet he refuses to forgive a fellow servant who owes him only a tiny fraction of that amount. The contrast is striking. Before God, every one of us is the first servant. We have received a mercy that we could never earn. When we refuse to forgive others, we forget the immeasurable debt that Christ has already forgiven through his Cross.
2. Four Hundred and Ninety: Jesus’ answer is not simply a poetic way of saying “always.” The number “seventy times seven” (490) recalls the prophecy of Daniel, who learned that Israel's full restoration would come after “seventy weeks of years” (Daniel 9:24-27). Although the people returned from Babylonian exile, humanity remained in a deeper exile caused by sin. Although Jeremiah’s seventy-year prophecy was fulfilled with Judah’s return from Babylon, Daniel learned that the definitive end of Israel’s exile would not come until “seventy weeks of years” (490 years), counted from Artaxerxes’ decree to Ezra in 457 B.C. That prophecy reaches its fulfillment in the last week of years, A.D. 27–34, when Jesus the Messiah, through his saving death and resurrection, brought about the true forgiveness of sins and restoration foretold in Daniel. Thus, Daniel foretold the day when God would finally bring an end to transgression, atone for iniquity, and establish everlasting righteousness. Jesus reveals that this long-awaited age has now arrived. Through his death and resurrection, the true exile ends because the forgiveness of sins is now offered to the whole world. For Peter, this command carries special significance. Having received the keys of the Kingdom, he will become the chief steward of Christ’s household, entrusted with proclaiming and administering God’s forgiveness. Yet Peter’s ministry also becomes a model for the entire Church. Every Christian who has received God’s mercy is called to become an instrument of that same mercy in the lives of others.
3. Jubilee Forgiveness and Freedom: Jesus’ words also recall the Jubilee legislation of Leviticus 25. Every fiftieth year, debts were cancelled, slaves were set free, and ancestral lands were restored. The Jubilee proclaimed that God’s people were not meant to remain enslaved forever but were called to freedom and restored communion. Four hundred and ninety years comprise ten Jubilee cycles, making “seventy times seven” a symbol of perfect and complete forgiveness (Bergsma, New Testament Basics for Catholics, 56). The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant reveals that Christ has inaugurated the definitive and perpetual Jubilee. “Thus, when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive, Jesus’s ‘seventy times seven’ response meant: be generous as your Father in heaven was generous. Jesus commissioned Peter and his successors to be the living embodiment of jubilee, to perpetuate the age of the Messiah” (Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 79). Through his Passion, the debt of sin has been cancelled, the slavery of sin has been broken, and humanity has been invited home to the Father’s house. Those who have received this gift cannot continue to imprison others through resentment or refuse the forgiveness they themselves have freely received. Every act of Christian forgiveness becomes a participation in Christ’s saving work, extending the freedom and reconciliation of the new Jubilee until he comes again in glory.
Thursday of the Nineteenth Week in Ordinary Time
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.Mt. 18:15
Saint John Chrysostom, in commenting upon this passage, explains that “seventy-seven times” was a way of saying “always.” In other words, Jesus was not giving a specific number to the times we must forgive, He was saying that forgiveness must be offered forever and always, without limit. This is the depth of forgiveness offered to us.
This passage also shows the contrast between the human tendency towards forgiveness and God’s. Peter, no doubt, must have thought that he was being generous by asking if he should forgive his brother as many as seven times. Perhaps he thought Jesus would be impressed by this apparently generous suggestion. But the infinite mercy of God can never be outdone. There is simply no limit to the mercy of God, and, therefore, there must be no limit to the mercy we offer others.
What is your personal practice when it comes to seeking the forgiveness of God in your life? And what is your practice in regard to offering forgiveness to another? This line quoted above introduces the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. In that parable, the servant owed his king a “huge amount.” In mercy, the king forgave the debt just as God is willing to forgive us no matter what. But forgiveness does have one price. The price is that we must also forgive others to the same extent. Thus, when the servant who was forgiven a huge amount later sees one of his servants who owed him a much smaller amount, he demands the debt be paid in full. The result is that the king hears of this and withdraws his mercy, requiring the servant to pay him back in full.
This tells us that forgiveness is not an option unless we are perfect and owe no debt to God. Of course, if anyone thinks that, then they are not living in reality. As we read in the letter to the Romans, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”. As a result, it is essential that we offer forgiveness always and everywhere, without condition, without limit and without hesitation. How easily do you do this? How fully do you forgive?
One of the hardest persons to forgive is the one who has no sorrow for their sin. When this happens, it is easy to justify our condemnation of them. One thing that might be helpful to reflect upon if you are currently withholding forgiveness from another and remain angry, bitter or hurt, is that your lack of forgiveness does more damage to your own soul than to theirs. By refusing to forgive, you do immeasurable damage to your soul and to your relationship with God. Remaining angry and hurt only leads to more anger and hurt. It leads to vengeful thinking and even acting. And that is a sin for which you will be held accountable.
Reflect, today, upon the infinite depth of mercy and forgiveness you are called to offer to each and every person who has or will hurt you. To forgive is certainly not to excuse. On the contrary, the act of forgiveness acknowledges the sin. But mercy must be offered no matter what. Always, everywhere, unending and without any conditions, it must be offered. If this is difficult to do, do it anyway and do not stop. Doing so will not only help the sinner, it will also open the gates of mercy from God in your life.
My forgiving Lord, Your mercy is infinite and unfathomable. You desire to forgive every sin in my life and to restore me completely to a life of perfect union with You. I accept this gift of forgiveness in my life, dear Lord, and I freely choose to offer this same depth of mercy to everyone who ever has or ever will sin against me. I forgive as completely as I can. Please help me to imitate Your unending mercy. Jesus, I trust in You.
Thursday 19th Ordinary Time 2025
Opening Prayer: Lord God, reign in my soul. I offer myself to you and ask that you forgive my many sins. I am not worthy to have the debt of my sin cancelled, and yet you have cancelled it. Strengthen me when I need to forgive those who offend me.
Encountering the Word of God
1. Seventy Times Seven: When Peter asks Jesus how often he is to forgive, Jesus responds with a number that has deep significance. Jesus tells Peter to forgive not seven times, but seventy times seven times. Seventy times seven equals 490. It is equivalent to seven times seven times ten. The number makes an appearance in the book of the prophet Daniel. Daniel was pondering Jeremiah’s words about the length of the exile in Babylon. Jeremiah prophesied that the exile would last 70 years. And this corresponds to the return of the people of Judah in 538 B.C. And Daniel learned that, although the people of Judah would return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple and the walls, the true end of the exile would not come until 70 weeks of years. 70 weeks of years means 490 years! And that corresponds to the redemptive death of Jesus, the Anointed One.
2. Jubilee Forgiveness and Freedom: The number 490 also evokes the perfection of the Jubilee Year. Israel was supposed to celebrate the jubilee every 49 years. This is when all debts would be forgiven, all slaves would be released from servitude, and all ancestral land would be restored. “Four hundred and ninety years is ten jubilee cycles, a period of perfect forgiveness. The number 490 represents the perfection of forgiveness” (Bergsma, New Testament Basics for Catholics, 56). By evoking the number 490, Jesus is alluding to Daniel 9 and Leviticus 25. “In one sense, Jesus was referencing the era of punishment the angel Gabriel described to Daniel for Israel’s offenses against the Lord (seventy weeks of years). In a way, he was saying, ‘As many times as God has forgiven Israel, so you should forgive others.’ But there was also a sacramental, liturgical aspect to Jesus’s statement to Peter, because Peter was going to be the first pope. He was going to be the head of the Church and the head of those in Holy Orders. And those in Holy Orders – the priests and bishops – are God’s chief forgivers. … Thus, when Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive, Jesus’s ‘seventy times seven’ response meant: be generous as your Father in heaven was generous. Jesus commissioned Peter and his successors to be the living embodiment of jubilee, to perpetuate the age of the Messiah” (Bergsma, Jesus and the Jubilee, 79).
3. The Book of Joshua: Today, we begin reading from the Book of Joshua, the sixth book of the Bible. Literally, the Book of Joshua narrates the history of the conquest of the Promised Land by the people of Israel. This conquest is the initial fulfillment of the covenant promise made to Abraham that his descendants would possess the land of Canaan. The conquest of Canaan takes place in three phases. The people conquered the city of Jericho, followed by Ai, and then the central highlands. Then, there is a southern campaign (Joshua 10), followed by a third, northern campaign (Joshua 11). Tradition reads the Book of Joshua with reference to Christ and the Church. Joshua has the same name as Jesus and foreshadows Jesus in many ways. Joshua “triumphs over the enemies of God’s people and leads them to their blessed inheritance. The Promised Land of Canaan has layers of spiritual significance. Allegorically, Canaan is the world that is conquered by Christ leading and directing the missionary efforts of the Church. Battles for the conversion are fought and won, not with the physical implements of war, but with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Morally, Canaan is the soul of the believer that is captured and claimed by Jesus. As the new Joshua, he drives from it, not a host of wicked nations, but a host of sins and vices that drag us away from the Lord. Anagogically, Canaan is our heavenly homeland. There the saints find rest from the grueling wilderness of this world and enjoy forever the milk and honey of eternal happiness (CCC 117)” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible, 337).
Thursday 19th Ordinary Time 2024
Opening Prayer: Lord God, you sent your Son to elevate the institution of marriage to a Sacrament. You offer to us the grace of sharing in the love between your Son and the Church. This is a great mystery and I ask you to enlighten my mind so that I may understand it more deeply each passing day.
Encountering the Word of God
1. First-Century Discussions About Divorce: When the Pharisees approached Jesus to test him with a question about marriage and divorce, we need to recall the division between the then-current schools of thought on divorce. One of the schools, led by Rabbi Hillel the Elder (who died around A.D. 10), was more liberal and taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason. Specifically, he gave the example of a burnt dinner as a reason for divorce. The other school was more conservative and was led by Rabbi Shammai. He taught that adultery or a serious transgression was the only reason for divorce. The Pharisees had heard that although Moses permitted divorce in the Second Law (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), Jesus forbade divorce and remarriage in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:32). The Pharisees saw “an opportunity to discredit Jesus by pitting him against Moses. Jesus evades the trap by quoting the words of Moses from Genesis (19:4-5) and then turns the tables by showing that the Pharisees are the ones out of touch with God’s true intention for married life as revealed in the Torah” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament, 40).
2. Revoking Moses’ Concession: When Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount, he brought the Old Law to fulfillment. He did this in various ways. Some Laws of Moses needed to be interiorized. Not committing the external sin of adultery, for example, needed to be grounded in not committing the interior sin of lust. However, some Laws of Moses need to be corrected. The laws about hating and killing enemies needed to be corrected. As well, the law of Moses permitting divorce needed to be corrected. The law in Deuteronomy (24:1-4) tolerating the practice of divorce and limiting its abuses was a concession Moses granted because of the people’s hardness of heart and not because it was God’s original intention. “Jesus described divorce and remarriage as a legal concession to the sinfulness of Israel (Mt 19:8). But instead of reaffirming these practices, he revoked the Mosaic permission and restored the original standard of lifelong marriage that God instituted at creation” (Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: Deuteronomy, 46).
3. God’s Unfaithful Bride: The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel contains two allegories about Israel as God’s unfaithful bride. One is found in Chapter 16, which is today’s First Reading. The other is found in Chapter 23. The language in both was so graphic that ancient rabbis restricted who was allowed to read them. Today’s passage alludes to the origin of the city of Jerusalem. It was originally a Canaanite city and was the last city to fall to the Israelites under King David. The reading speaks about how God saw the city grow and how he betrothed her by covering her with the corner of his cloak. God made a covenant with her under King David and he dressed her as a queen. Instead of being a faithful bride and queen, the city of Jerusalem chose to play the harlot and slaughter her own children. This is a reference to the infant sacrifices offered to the pagan god Molech in the valley of Hinnom under King Solomon and the other Judean kings. Pagan shrines proliferated in Jerusalem and the city made alliances with and paid tribute to the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and the Babylonians (Ezekiel 16:24-33). The passage ends with God acknowledging that his people have broken the covenant. This is likely a reference to the covenants of Sinai and Deuteronomy under Moses. God also promises that he will remember the covenant made when his people were young. This is likely a reference to the covenant oath made to Abraham. God promises to establish a new covenant, called here “an everlasting covenant.” This new covenant will be a renewed marriage relationship that will be established when God forgives the sins of his people (Ezekiel 16:59-63) (see Bergsma and Pitre, A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament, 845).
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