September 11th 2011 A.D. "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?" Matthew 18:21-35

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 The important point in this story is not that the servant earned forgiveness but rather his master granted it spontaneously despite the servant’s unworthiness and then the servant refused to reflect the master’s generosity in dealing with his fellow servant. When we forgive others who have hurt us we don’t do it to earn forgiveness from God but to manifest God’s implacably forgiving love.

 One cannot earn what is already there but one can reveal it to others. In fact, the master in this story is God. He forgives simply, generously, and with no strings attached because it is in his nature to do so.

 We are already forgiven and indeed from all eternity. All we have to do is to accept forgiveness and reveal it to others.

Fr. Greeley's Last Book:

Once upon a time a certain man was running for political office. He wanted to in so badly he would stop at nothing to defeat the incumbent. So he indulged in extremely negative campaigning. He told his staff to pull quotes out of context, make innuendoes about his opponent’s  personal life, spread false rumors about him, leak incriminating stories to the media, attack his record, pry into the private lives of his children, anything, absolutely anything to turn the public against him. Well, it almost worked. The incumbent’s plurality went down sharply but he was still reelected.

 The challenger would not concede. Instead he launched a vitriolic attack on the character of his opponent and his family. He defamed  you, said a lawyer. Sue the so and so.

Will you sue him? The TV reporter asked him.

No, said the victor. I understand how he feels. I lost my first try.

Does that mean you forgive him?

It doesn’t do any good not to forgive.

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Psalm 103:1-4,9-12

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor requite us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

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This book has a chapter about Fr. Greeley and is dedicated to him. Great read!
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