24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Resentment and anger, these are terrible things
by which the sinner becomes an expert.
    Whoever takes vengeance
will experience the vengeance of the Lord;
he will keep rigorous account of that person's sins.
    Forgive your neighbor the wrong done to you;
then, when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
    If a man nurses anger against another man,
how can he ask God for healing?
    If he has no mercy on another man, his fellow,
how can he plead for his own sins?
    He who is a mere mortal clings to resentment;
who then will forgive his sins?
    Think of your final fate and let go of all hatred,
think of your decay and your death,
and remain faithful to the commandments.
    Think of the commandments
and do not hold a grudge against your neighbor,
think of the Covenant of the Most High
and show mercy to those who do not know.

    – The word of the Lord.

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
bless his holy name, all my being!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
do not forget any of his benefits!

For he forgives all your offenses
and heals all your diseases;
he redeems your life from the grave
and crowns you with love and tenderness.

He does not always accuse,
nor does he keep his anger forever;
he does not deal with us according to our faults,
nor repay us as our offenses deserve.

As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so strong is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our sins from us.

Brothers and sisters,
    none of us lives for himself,
and none dies for himself:
    if we live, we live for the Lord;
if we die, we die for the Lord.
Thus, in our life as in our death,
we belong to the Lord.
    For if Christ experienced death, then life,
it is so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

    – The word of the Lord.

At that time,
    Peter came up to Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how many times must I forgive him?
Up to seven times?"
    Jesus replied,
"I do not say to you up to seven times,
but up to seventy times seven times.
    That is why the kingdom of heaven may be compared
to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
    When he began the reckoning,
they brought him a man
who owed him ten thousand talents
(that is, sixty million silver coins).
    Since the man had no way to pay back,
the master ordered him to be sold,
with his wife, children, and all his possessions,
in repayment of the debt.
    Then, falling at his feet,
the servant remained prostrate and said,
'Have patience with me,
and I will repay you everything.'
    Moved with compassion, the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him his debt.

    But as he was leaving, that servant found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a hundred silver coins.
He grabbed him and began to choke him, saying,
'Pay back what you owe!'
    His companion fell at his feet and begged him,
'Have patience with me,
and I will repay you.'
    But he refused
and had him thrown into prison until he should pay back what he owed.
    When his companions saw what had happened,
they were deeply saddened
and went and told their master
everything that had happened.
    Then the master summoned him and said,
'You wicked servant!
I forgave you all that debt
because you pleaded with me.
    Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant,
as I had mercy on you?'
    In his anger, the master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back all he owed.

    So will my heavenly Father treat you,
if each of you does not forgive his brother
from his heart."

    – Let us acclaim the word of God.