St. Jerome's Church, Philadelphia recently issued the following announcement. 

Dear Parishioners,  

The Christian life is a communal life, not a solitary one. Thus, it entails times of being reconciled to God and with one another.  

Saint Paul explains why it is necessary for us to be reconciled with each other if we ever have hope of being reconciled with God. We are the Lord’s, we belong to Christ, and we are to conform ourselves to him: None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. We are a community of believers. We are all sinners, and need to give and receive from each other what we need from the Lord – mercy. We are meant to treat others the way God has treated us in Christ, sharing with them the life-giving and forgiving love of Jesus.  

“What does that look like, exactly?” we might ask. This is at the heart of Peter’s question in today’s Gospel. “What does forgiveness look like, Lord, forgiving my brother seven times?” That seems like a reasonable number, does it not? Especially if it is for the same thing? Except Jesus said seventy-seven times was the answer. And lest we get stuck on the exact numbers rather than the larger point, Jesus tells the parable of the unforgiving servant. Completely upside down in his debt, with no hope to repay it, and he must throw himself completely on his master’s mercy.  

His debt is miraculously forgiven! Yet, rather than reforming his life, changing his heart, and sharing with others the mercy just shown him, the servant imprisons someone who owes him a much smaller amount. In response, the master hands him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.  

Jesus suggests that he owes us nothing, but he has given us everything. He has forgiven the worst things we have ever done. He would forgive the worst things we could ever imagine. And yet, with all that mercy to draw from, free for the taking, he still finds us holding grudges over much smaller wrongs done to us by the hands of another.  

All of us belong in Jesus’ “debtors’ prison,” but he came to set the captives free. It is true that we don’t deserve the mercy God has shown us in Christ. We can’t earn it and we can’t repay it. But we can live it. We can forgive, and we can seek forgiveness. And as “seventyseven” represents the limitless nature of God’s mercy toward us – so we can make it represent ours to one another. 

Let us all continue to pray for God's healing blessings for all who are suffering from the COVID-19 infection around the world! Here is the prayer that Pope Francis composed for this pandemic: 

O Mary, you always shine on our path as a sign of salvation and of hope. We entrust ourselves to you, Health of the Sick, who at the cross took part in Jesus’ pain, keeping your faith firm. You, Salvation of the Roman People, know what we need, and we are sure you will provide so that, as in Cana of Galilee, we may return to joy and to feasting after this time of trial. Help us, Mother of Divine Love, to conform to the will of the Father and to do as we are told by Jesus, who has taken upon himself our sufferings and carried our sorrows to lead us, through the cross, to the joy of the resurrection. Amen.  

May St. Jerome continue to bless our parish family during this difficult time as we continue to grow, flourish, and keep the great history alive of spreading God’s love in our little corner of the Greater Northeast. 

God Love Ya, 

Fr. Reilly

Original source can be found here.