Mr. Neal Lozano, in his book titled ‘Unbound, shares the experience of a woman who struggled to accept her life situation. While attending a conference, a guest speaker placed his hands on this middle-aged woman and prayed for her. She fell to the ground, thrashing around, manifesting what had been the bondage of evil spirits. The pastor asked for the assistance of Mr. Neal. He had a personal conversation with this woman, who came out of the conference hall in an agitated state. He asked her, ‘What was happening?’ She replied that she did not know. ‘What is going on in your life now? What is causing you turmoil?’ he asked again. She said, ‘My son is causing me trouble.’ Her description of his disrespectful behaviour caused her great mental agony. Then Neal told her to speak about her husband; she said, ‘My husband left. One day he said he was going to the store, but he never came home.’ ‘What about your father? Neil inquired further. ‘He was violent and abusive; my parents divorced.’ ‘Did you want to be free? he asked her. Are you willing to forgive?’ Then he led her through an inner healing session, helping her to forgive her son, husband, and dad for their violence and abuse. Neal felt something more. Is there anything else you would like to forgive? He asked. With deep emotion, she breathed out the words, ‘I forgive my dad for leaving me.’ Immediately, she felt an inner peace and joy. The power was broken. She renounced abandonment, rejection, and fear of abandonment and then commanded those spirits to go, and she was free.

The root cause of all the problems that we see around us is mostly due to a lack of forgiveness. If there is a hurt feeling or negative experience in a relationship, everyone wants to take revenge immediately. Instead of trying to solve the grudge through dialogue, mutual acceptance, and forgiveness, we see in the primitive community that revenge is considered the right of the individual. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth This was the common understanding in Old Testament times too. However, the urge to take revenge is common in the animal kingdom. We human beings are blessed with the capacity to channel this revengeful feeling into an act of forgiveness.
In today’s gospel reading, we see Peter approaching Jesus with the question, If a person commits a sin against him, how many times does he need to forgive? He himself also gave an answer: Is it enough to forgive seven times? As per Jewish theology, seven stands designate fullness. Jesus taught his disciples that if someone slaps one cheek, show the other too. It implies that we need to forgive twice. Here we see Peter remains really generous and asks, not three times, but instead, is it enough to forgive seven times? This question also implies a hidden permission to retaliate after seven attempts at forgiveness. Jesus tells him that not seven times but seventy-seven times. It means infinite times, and Jesus wanted all of us to grow into the mindset of spontaneous forgiveness. The first reading of the day shares with us the wisdom of Sirach: “Anger and wrath, these also are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them. The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance, for he keeps a strict account of their sins. Forgive your neighbour for the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray. Does anyone harbour anger against another and expect healing from the Lord? If people have no mercy towards those like themselves, can they then seek pardon for their own sins?” (Sir. 27:30, 28:1–4)

In order to emphasize the need to forgive, Jesus shares the parable of the master and the servant. The servant owed ten thousand talents to his master. The master demanded the immediate return of his money, asking him to sell everything and somehow pay it back. Anyhow, the master was moved by the pitiable plea of the servant and, moved with compassion, extended the time duration to return the money and also reduced his debt. He received a double blessing from the master. On the way, the same servant met his fellow servant, who owed him a hundred talents. He dragged this fellow servant to the prison, demanding his money back without any mercy. He turned a deaf ear to his plea. He failed to show mercy and forgot the fact that his freedom was the mere mercy of his master. When the master came to know about this rude behaviour of the servant, he withdrew his compassion and mercy and imprisoned him until he settled his debt.

Jesus wanted to tell his disciples and all of us that at times we hold grudges against our fellow brethren for varied reasons. However, we need to keep in mind that the freedom and blessings that we enjoy are sheer blessings from the Lord. We received his unconditional love, mercy, and compassion. We are called to return the same love, mercy, and compassion to our fellow brethren. When we find it difficult to forgive, let us constantly remind ourselves of this parable shared by Jesus, which reminds us that all of us are indebted to God, and if we want to receive mercy at the end of time, we need to share it with our fellow brethren.