Gospel Reflection For The 5th day of March in the year of Our Lord, 2024
Gospel
Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then came Peter unto him and said: Lord, how often shall my brother offend against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. 23 Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened to a king, who would take an account of his servants. 24 And when he had begun to take the account, one was brought to him, that owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And as he had not wherewith to pay it, his lord commanded that he should be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
26 But that servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 27 And the lord of that servant being moved with pity, let him go and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that servant was gone out, he found one of his fellow servants that owed him an hundred pence: and laying hold of him, throttled him, saying: Pay what thou owest. 29 And his fellow servant falling down, besought him, saying: Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. 30 And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he paid the debt.
31 Now his fellow servants seeing what was done, were very much grieved, and they came and told their lord all that was done. 32 Then his lord called him; and said to him: Thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all the debt, because thou besoughtest me: 33 Shouldst not thou then have had compassion also on thy fellow servant, even as I had compassion on thee? 34 And his lord being angry, delivered him to the torturers until he paid all the debt. 35 So also shall my heavenly Father do to you, if you forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.
We have already discussed how our Lord’s teaching on this subject requires an effort beyond human ability to follow. Only through the grace of God can such a demand of forgiveness be even understood, much less practiced. But, the rest of this passage gets too little attention in our time. Even as Catholics, we have become swayed by modern notions that God’s forgiveness goes far beyond the words of the Bible and the teachings of the Church. The Bible and Sacred tradition teach us of the reality of sin. Modernism teaches us that there is no penalty for sin, and really no sin at all. The Protestant doctrine of “once saved always saved” does not deny sin, but denies all punishment for sin. Protestants deny both the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the doctrine of Purgatory. They claim that any sin a Christian commits after being “saved” is already forgiven even regardless contrition.
Jesus did not say this. He emphasized the reality of sin. He told those He forgave to sin no more. He said that those who love Him would keep His commandments. He warned that even those who believed in Him and performed great works in His name would be excluded from heaven and He would say, “truly, I do not know you.” He spoke of Purgatory as a debtors prison. In this passage He warns:
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.
Sin, hell and purgatory are very real. Satan has, from the beginning of man, tried to convince us that sin is no big deal and that it carries no penalty. Now, not only does our culture preach the lies of Satan, but so do Protestant churches and even some within the Catholic Church who seek to normalize homosexuality and other sins. Yet, for approximately 2,000 years the words of Jesus have remained unchanged as have the morals and doctrine of the Church He founded. We must hold fast to the truth. The truth is not subjective. Something is either true or it is not. It is far better to believe in hard truths than in comfortable lies.
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Gospel passages are taken from the Douay Rheims Bible.