REFLECTION FOR TODAY
No, my dear brethren, this gracious virtue of purity is not known to those young men whose eyes and hands are defiled by glances and...Oh God, how many souls does this sin drag down to Hell...This beautiful virtue is not known to those worldly and corrupt girls who make so many preparations and take so many cares to draw the eyes of the world towards themselves, who by their affected and indecent dress announce publicly that they are evil instruments which hell makes use of to ruin souls--those souls which cost so much in labors and tears and torments to Jesus Christ. Look at them, these misfortunates, and you will see that a thousand devils surround their heads and their breasts. An even more astounding thing to understand is how their mothers endure them in a state unworthy of a Christian. I would tell these mothers they are worth no more than their daughters.
-- St. John Vianney
READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Sirach 27:30 -- 28:9
Anger, Revenge, and Forgiveness (Sirach 27:30)
30 Taking revenge in anger is disgusting—yet sinners just won't give it up.
Arguments (Sirach 28:9)
9 And remember, it is sinful to start an argument that destroys a friendship.
Psalms: Psalm 103:1-4, 9-12
The Love of God
1 Praise the Lord, my soul! All my being, praise his holy name!
2 Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget how kind he is.
3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
4 He keeps me from the grave and blesses me with love and mercy.
9 He does not keep on rebuking; he is not angry forever.
10 He does not punish us as we deserve or repay us according to our sins and wrongs.
11 As high as the sky is above the earth, so great is his love for those who honor him.
12 As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins from us.
Second Reading: Romans 14:7-9
7 We do not live for ourselves only, and we do not die for ourselves only.
8 If we live, it is for the Lord that we live, and if we die, it is for the Lord that we die. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
9 For Christ died and rose to life in order to be the Lord of the living and of the dead.
Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times?”
22 “No, not seven times,” answered Jesus, “but seventy times seven,
23 because the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a king who decided to check on his servants' accounts.
24 He had just begun to do so when one of them was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 25 The servant did not have enough to pay his debt, so the king ordered him to be sold as a slave, with his wife and his children and all that he had, in order to pay the debt.
26 The servant fell on his knees before the king. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay you everything!’
27 The king felt sorry for him, so he forgave him the debt and let him go.
28 “Then the man went out and met one of his fellow servants who owed him a few dollars. He grabbed him and started choking him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he said.
29 His fellow servant fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!’
30 But he refused; instead, he had him thrown into jail until he should pay the debt.
31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very upset and went to the king and told him everything.
32 So he called the servant in. ‘You worthless slave!’ he said. ‘I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just because you asked me to.
33 You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you.’
34 The king was very angry, and he sent the servant to jail to be punished until he should pay back the whole amount.”
35 And Jesus concluded, “That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
No comments:
Post a Comment