In this section you can find a daily commentary on the Gospel of the Day.

Tuesday 14 March 2023

Third week of Lent

Word for today
The Gospel of Matthew 18:21-35

Measure

A man uses an average of 555 liters of oxygen a day. That is how much a man needs to satisfy the first of his physiological needs and to stay alive. That is physiological fact, a creatural fact; and it indicates how things work and have to work to keep everything functioning.
Now, if a political party, a science, a culture, a religion tried to convince humanity that according to their opinion, research, convention, interests and dogmas, the daily need for oxygen for an adult to survive is not 555 liters but 5, would our body stop breathing the 555 liters of oxygen it needs every day?
Only the person who knows and created everything can dictate how everything works, all other indications are meaningless, useless, empty, mortal opinions.
According to Peter the measure is seven; according to Jesus the measure is seventy times seven. Different measures depend on different perspectives, knowledge, objectives and interests. According to Peter if your brother commits an offence against you, you have to forgive him seven times in order to be able to live in peace, to live in God, to live in light.
According to Jesus, if a brother commits an offence against you, seventy times seven is the number of times you need to have mercy on our brother - as Jesus says - if you want to live in peace, in God, if you want to live, if you don't want to die. Seventy times seven - a number indicating infinity- means that, if you do not constantly breathe love and forgiveness, you will die.  It is a matter of fact; it is physics, not metaphysics; those are the instructions in the user manual, it is not religion.
According to Peter, to live in love, we need to breathe forgiveness seven times; according to Jesus, to live in love and not to die in body and soul, the number of times we need to breathe mercy towards our brothers is endless, as endless as the times our Father has mercy and forgives us.