Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ 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 his brother from his heart.”
When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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If you have ever played a video game, then you know that there is always a series of levels.
The first level is the easiest, and the final level is the most difficult. Sometimes it takes multiple tries before you succeed in beating that final level… but if you do, then you have mastered the game.
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If Christianity were likened to a video game, then today’s Gospel would be the final level – forgive without limits.
If you can do this, then you’ve mastered Christianity.
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Is there someone I need to forgive?
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Even if we haven’t mastered Christianity, may the Lord give us the grace to try again today.
As Jesus and his disciples were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is to be handed over to men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were overwhelmed with grief.
When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax approached Peter and said, “Does not your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes,” he said. When he came into the house, before he had time to speak, Jesus asked him, “What is your opinion, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take tolls or census tax? From their subjects or from foreigners?” When he said, “From foreigners,” Jesus said to him, “Then the subjects are exempt. But that we may not offend them, go to the sea, drop in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. Open its mouth and you will find a coin worth twice the temple tax. Give that to them for me and for you.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Edith Stein, whose feast day we celebrate today, represents everyone who suffers for who they are.
In Edith’s case, she was born into a Jewish family in Poland at the turn of the 20th century.
After losing her faith in college, she rediscovered the Lord and converted to Catholicism, eventually becoming a Carmelite nun, right before the breakout of World War Two.
Shortly after the War began, she and the other nuns in her convent were shipped off to Auschwitz and gassed.
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Edith Stein was hated because she was Jewish…and, again, because she became Catholic.
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Throughout history, people have been targeted because of their skin color, their religion, their politics, their gender, and their economic or social status.
Edith Stein – and all the victims of hate – remind us that we must learn to transcend these boundaries that divide us, seeing each person as made in the image and likeness of God.
Common ground can always be found between people willing to compromise or to work for the common good.
This should be particularly true among Christians. “Wherever two or three are gathered in my name,” Jesus says, “I am there in the midst of them.”
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Do my words and actions foster unity? Do they ever divide?
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“Whatever you do to the least of these my brothers and sisters of mine,” Jesus says, whether at home, online, or in a gas chamber, “you do to me.”
Saint Edith Stein, pray for us.
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Image credits: (1) Honeybear Lane (2) United Nations Peacekeeping (3) Edith Stein Arrested, YouTube (4) Jen Norton Art Studio
The Jews murmured about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven, ” and they said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop murmuring among yourselves. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him, and I will raise him on the last day. It is written in the prophets: They shall all be taught by God. Everyone who listens to my Father and learns from him comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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When I was a little kid, I had lots of stuffed animals.
A few of them had Velcro strips on their backs; you could turn them inside out and they became a globe. For example, my panda showed me that he came from China; my penguin from Antarctica.
These stuffed animals sparked my imagination, fueling a hunger inside of me to know more about the world around me.
So, I devised a plan.
One day I started digging a hole in my backyard. I was determined to dig my way to China, a land of pandas, bamboo, and apparently a very big wall.
I didn’t get too far before Mom discovered me, breaking the bad news: I wasn’t making it to China that day.
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But my curious heart mirrored the crowds who’ve been following Jesus in John’s Gospel for the last three weeks.
It began with the multiplication of the loaves.
Thousands were following him. They listened to his sermons and watched him perform miracles. But then they were hungry. So, Jesus feeds them all by sunset. They were mesmerized by his power.
At this point, the crowds want to know more about him. “Who is this man?” they say.
So, they keep digging.
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Last week, Jesus urged them to see the hunger beneath the hunger. The crowds need more than a full stomach to be satisfied. In the words of Bruce Springsteen, “Everybody’s Got a Hungry Heart.”
Jesus tells them he can satisfy it. “Whoever comes to me will never hunger; whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
This week he tells the crowds how he will satisfy them.
“I am the bread of life, whoever eats this bread will live forever and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.”
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It’s not the answer the crowds were expecting. Consuming Christ sounded strange, as it does to some today. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
Skeptical and confused, they stop digging for the truth. Literally, they “grumbled” against Jesus, disagreeing with what he said.
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How often do we “grumble” against the Lord, even in little ways?
I do it almost every Monday morning! I look at the readings for the following Sunday and say, “Lord, how is this sermon going to come together? What am I going to say?”
Or we grumble when the Lord presses our conscience. He urges us to simplify; to let go of all anger and judgment; or to be more generous with our time.
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Sometimes we also grumble when we think about the Eucharist.
As Catholics, we believe the Eucharist is the Promised Presence of Christ. It distinguishes our faith; it’s our “food for the journey,” as we hear in our first reading.
Still, some turn away in disbelief like the crowds in today’s Gospel. “How can this be?”
It’s the same reaction the Israelites had to God when Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt into the desert. God gave them manna – their daily bread – but they “grumbled” against him.
“If only we could’ve died in Egypt!” they say. They wanted something other than manna.
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What is my own reaction to Jesus’ words in today’s Gospel? Do I see him in the Eucharist with eyes of faith? Or do I look on in disbelief like the crowds in the Gospel?
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What happened in the Gospel over the last three weeks, and what happened to Israel in the desert, is much like what happened to me as a child.
I was so curious about the world around me, I literally tried digging a hole to China.
The crowds following Jesus do something similar; they follow him, looking for answers.
“Who is this man? How can he satisfy hungry hearts?”
When Jesus tells them, “I am the bread of life, whoever believes in me will never hunger… and whoever eats my flesh will live forever,” they turn away in disbelief.
May the opposite be true for us.
May we approach this altar with loving hearts and eyes of faith, ready to receive the Lord who is, “the bread of life,” our food for the journey, our way to eternal life.
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Image credits: (1) Little Boy Digging by Bryan Rupp (2) I am the Bread of Life, the Rock Church (3) Catholic Daily Reflections (4) Pinterest
