The habit of forgiveness is one that we must cultivate in the first place with those with whom we live. I live in a community of five Jesuits, each of us with our own quirks and foibles. I often forget that I’m partway through a load of laundry, so I will leave clothes in the dryer for hours; one of my brothers has a habit of leaving crumbs behind on the kitchen counter after he has a meal or a snack. These little inconsistencies may be small, but I find that they are an important test of Jesus’ admonition in today’s Gospel reading to “[forgive] your brother from your heart.” If I am not willing to forgive, and forgive often (the “seventy-seven times” Jesus speaks of), then I set myself on the road to living in a state of resentment. And living with resentment is not the way that God wants us to live!
When we find the path of forgiveness difficult, all we need do is look toward the God who has forgiven us first. As the prayer of Azariah says in today’s first reading, the Lord deals with us in “kindness and great mercy”; the Father is easily “moved with compassion” like the master in Jesus’ parable, forgiving us our entire debt. So today, let us examine the relationships in our lives—especially those with whom we live or work—to see where the Lord is inviting us to grow in the practice of forgiveness, asking that we might be moved with his spirit of mercy and compassion.