Daily Gospel Reflection
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September 17, 2023
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
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 your brother from your heart.”
Reflection
In the parable of the unmerciful servant, Jesus conveys an unmistakable message about the importance of unconditional and unlimited forgiveness. While today’s parable is provocative, I find the last six words of this passage to be the most compelling of the reading, “forgive your brother from your heart.”
I am intrigued by the power of the spiritual heart and believe that just as our physical hearts are vital for our lives on earth, our spiritual hearts are gateways to everlasting life. As the recipients of God’s saving love, our spiritual hearts are God’s most beautiful gifts to us, and, as such, we should treasure, cultivate, and care for them. Caring for our hearts does not mean protecting them from life’s trials. We all know how painful it feels when our hearts are wounded and need healing, but forgiveness, however hard, is the medicine that heals our heart wounds.
Just as healing any physical wound requires a diagnosis, healing wounds of the heart call us to identify and accept the source of the pain. I can imagine how difficult it must have been for the servant to acknowledge his shortcomings and ask the king for forgiveness. In my life, I find some offenses easier to forgive and ask for forgiveness than others. I find it especially difficult to forgive someone who is not repentant, so I lean on persistent prayer for a forgiving heart.
Engaging in the healing act of forgiveness cultivates our spiritual hearts by outpouring God’s merciful love into us, which empowers us to pour our merciful love into others. In helping another person to heal by caring for their heart, our hearts soften, leaving them more conditioned and inclined to forgiveness in the future, just as Jesus is teaching in this parable.
Why is Jesus convicted about forgiveness? He is the divine physician, and forgiveness is always about healing as an invitation to co-create a more compassionate world.
Prayer
Lord God, in your great mercy you sent your Son to pour out himself for our sins. By his blood, he paid the price that we are unable to pay. May we always give thanks for so great a gift of love and may we in turn show your love and mercy to our neighbors. Give us the gift of your healing forgiveness to soften our hearts to be able to love as you do. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day

St. Robert Bellarmine was so short and small that he had to stand on a stool behind the pulpit to speak, but his voice—in both his preaching and writing—defined the age for the Church.
He was born in 1542 in Tuscany to a poor family, and was always an excellent student. Even as a child, he could hold his own in public discourse and arguments. He was also very pious—in fact, the Jesuit principal of his school once described him as “the best of our school, and not far from the kingdom of heaven.”
Robert joined the Jesuits in 1560, and was immediately excused from the initial formation of the novitiate so that he could enter his studies.
He bounced around to a number of different posts in universities and schools; at one point he was asked to teach Greek and had to stay up late at night to study the lessons he would deliver the next day. Everywhere he went he preached, and crowds began to appear to hear him. He preached in Latin, and his small stature meant that he could give few physical embellishments or gestures to his message, but his face seemed to glow and his words were luminous.
He was ordained in 1570 and continued with his academic career at the University of Louvain, and, when his health began to fail, in Rome. He wrote a monumental work defending the Catholic faith from Protestantism that immediately and lastingly defined the controversy produced by the schism. It was so learned and comprehensive that opponents thought his name was an amalgam of a team of Jesuits who researched and wrote it. It was a hit even in England, where it was banned; a bookseller in London said that he made more money from Robert than he made from all other theology authors combined.
He advised popes and kings, was named president of the Roman College, and made a cardinal. He wrote catechisms to teach the faith, which were in use even until recently and were among the most-translated works of his time. He served as spiritual director for St. Aloysius Gonzaga, and sat at his bed as the young man died; he even asked to be buried next to the young saint.
Still, he remained connected to the poor and to the discipline of faith. Though he lived in an apartment in the Vatican, he continued to fast and pray, living on what a poor person would have: bread and garlic, and no fire to heat his home during the winter. He ransomed an imprisoned soldier who had deserted from his duty, and took down his curtains to clothe the poor. “The walls won’t catch cold,” he said.
Late in his life, he was drawn into controversy about the rights of popes and kings, and his response did not fully satisfy either side—he lost favor with the pope and his book was burned in Paris. He was on good terms with Galileo Galilei, who dedicated one of his books to Robert. In 1616, Robert was asked to condemn Galileo, and he simply stated that the astronomer should not proclaim conclusions if they were not yet proven theories.
Robert Bellarmine died on this date in 1621 at the age of 79, and was canonized in 1930. He was declared a doctor of the Church soon after his canonization, a title given to 37 saints who are known for teaching the faith by word or example. A number of his relics rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
St. Robert Bellarmine, your words and thinking defined your times, yet you lived close to the poor—pray for us!