+(Intro) Our first reading this morning is one continual prayer, begging God’s kindness and great mercy. So let us take a moment to reflect on our own prayer and the times we have failed to turn to our loving God in time of need.
(After the gospel) The last words of our gospel may be the most important, as Jesus tells us to forgive our brother or sister from our hearts. As one reads through this gospel and Jesus telling of the king who decided to settle accounts with his servants, it becomes clear that the continual forgiveness he is asking of us is only possible through the presence of God’s own love abiding in our hearts.
Even the servant who owed the king a huge amount and had been shown so much compassion, turned against his fellow servant who owed him far less and had him put into prison. Any one of us may have experienced God’s tender compassion for a serious failing we have committed in our lives. But it is only when we know the depth of divine love that gives rise to this forgiveness, will we be as forgiving as we have been forgiven.
Each Eucharist is a pouring of this divine love into our hearts so let us ask the Lord for the grace to be open to so great and wondrous a gift.
Dan 3:25, 34-43; Matt 18:21-35