Luke 17:1-6
Jesus said to his disciples, "Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times in one day and returns to you seven times saying, 'I am sorry,' you should forgive him."
And the Apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." The Lord replied, "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you."
Dawg's thought:
Today's prayer intention is for Bill and Mindon Agar, who got married this past Friday, that God may bless their marriage with the desire to be a holy family.
1851: It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate's cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas' betrayal - so bitter to Jesus, Peter's denial and the disciples' flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world, the sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.
First of all, I want to apologize for the past week. Tuesday was voting day, and I didn't have time to do a reading, As for the rest of the week, I was away in St. Louis for the wedding of a good friend of mine and I thought that the hotel I was going to be staying at had an internet connection. Apparently, this was not the case.
Forgiveness is something that is extremely hard. Looking at the Passion of Our Lord, we see a brief account of the pain Jesus endured, and the grace He had to forgive them of their sins. This forgiveness can only come through faith, as see in the disciples response to Jesus' challenge to forgive.
I recently heard of a woman who was Hindu, and she endure a lot of pain throughout her growing up. Although she was Hindu, one day she prayed to Christ because she knew that Christ endured the extreme pain of His Passion, and in that she was able to find comfort. I met her recently, and through her faith in Jesus and her desire to pray to Christ in her suffering, she is a very devout Catholic woman.
In our own suffering, we have a God who can relate to our suffering, and wants to help us through our own sinfulness. We have a God who was betrayed, and was able to forgive all forms of betrayal. In our own suffering from our own sinfulness and in our suffering from the way others have hurt us, look to Christ's Passion and know that He is able to forgive "seventy times seven." Through His forgiveness, pray to Christ in faith, knowing that forgiveness is possible through Christ alone. Take care and God Bless.
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