2 March 2027 · Latin Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Syro-Malankara Rite · Syro-Malabar Rite · മലയാളം
“Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”” Matthew 18:21–22
The first reading comes from the part of Daniel preserved in Greek, the prayer of Azariah in the fiery furnace. Three young Jews have refused to worship the golden statue of King Nebuchadnezzar and have been thrown into the flames. There, walking in the fire, Azariah does not complain or argue. He confesses: we have sinned; we have no ruler, no prophet, no leader, no burnt offering, no sacrifice, “no place to make an offering before you and to find mercy.” The Temple is gone. Everything Israel used to bring to God has been taken away. And so Azariah offers the only thing left: “Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted, as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bulls… such may our sacrifice be in your sight today.” This is one of the great discoveries of the Old Testament, and one of the great lessons of Lent: when we have nothing else to give, God accepts a broken and humble heart. Azariah appeals not to his own goodness but to God's faithfulness, “for the sake of Abraham your beloved,” and to his “abundant mercy.” The Psalm makes the same plea: “Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD… Do not remember the sins of my youth.”
The Gospel shows what such mercy must do in us. Peter thinks he is being generous when he offers to forgive seven times. Jesus answers: “Not seven times, but… seventy-seven times,” that is, without counting. Then he tells the story of a servant who owed the king ten thousand talents, a debt so vast that a labourer could not repay it in many lifetimes. The king, “out of pity for him,” forgives it all. The same servant goes out, finds a fellow servant who owes him a hundred denarii, a few months' wages, seizes him by the throat and throws him into prison. The king's verdict is simple: “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?” The parable is not about a God who loves to punish; it is about a heart that has received mercy and refuses to let it flow. We pray every day, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Lent asks us to make those words true. Forgiving from the heart does not mean pretending that a wrong was not wrong, or staying in danger; it means letting go of revenge and handing the debt over to God, as he has cancelled ours.
Theme: “Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
A contrite heart in the furnace, and the mercy that must flow on.
“Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love, for they have been from of old. Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;” Psalm 25:6–7
“God's love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.” 1 John 4:9
Apply: When you feel you have nothing to offer God, offer him that emptiness in prayer.
“The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” Psalm 51:17
“But he gives all the more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”” James 4:6
Apply: Pray Psalm 51 slowly once this week, as Azariah would have prayed it.
“Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be pardoned when you pray.” Sirach 28:2
“Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?” Matthew 18:33
Apply: Pray the Our Father slowly tonight and stop at the words “as we forgive”; name before God the person you need to forgive.
God accepts a humble heart when we have nothing else to give.
The mercy we receive must become the mercy we give.
Take-home resolution: Forgive one person from the heart before the end of this week.
Dear friends, the young men in the furnace had lost everything: their land, their Temple, their sacrifices. In the fire Azariah prays: we have no place to make an offering before you and to find mercy. Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted (Daniel 3:38–39).
This is good news for us. There are days when we feel we have nothing to bring to God: no virtues, no success, only failures. God accepts that broken heart. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit (Psalm 51:17).
But mercy received must become mercy given. Peter asks: how often should I forgive? Seven times? Jesus says: not seven times, but seventy-seven times (Matthew 18:22). Then he tells of a servant forgiven a debt he could never pay, who goes out and seizes a fellow servant by the throat over a small sum.
The king asks him: should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you? (Matthew 18:33). Each day we pray: forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. This Lent, let us cancel one debt from the heart. It may be hard; ask for the grace, and God will give it. Amen.
Children, Peter asked Jesus: how many times do I have to forgive? Jesus said: seventy-seven times! That means every time. When someone hurts you and says sorry, say: I forgive you. Jesus forgives us every time too!
Lord God, merciful and faithful, you did not abandon the young men in the furnace, and you accept a contrite heart and a humble spirit. Remember your mercies, forget the sins of our youth, and teach us to forgive as we have been forgiven, not seven times but without counting. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Today’s readings look at mercy from both sides. In the First Reading, a young man in a furnace has nothing left to offer God but a broken heart, and he offers it. In the Gospel, a servant forgiven a debt beyond counting takes a colleague by the throat over a small one. The Psalm prays between them: “Remember your mercies, O Lord.” We ask for mercy as Azariah does. Then we have to give it. The key words are contrite, debt and heart.
Setting.
King Nebuchadnezzar has set up a golden statue and has had three young Jews thrown into a furnace for refusing to worship it. At this point the Aramaic text of Daniel moves straight on to the king’s amazement. The Greek text includes a long passage here, with the prayer of Azariah and the song of the three young men. The Catholic Church receives this passage as Scripture. Some Bibles print it separately among the Additions to Daniel.
The story is set during the Babylonian exile. Many scholars think the Book of Daniel took its final form in the persecution under Antiochus IV, about 167–164 BC, and that this prayer may have spoken directly to those days. In either age, the prayer belongs to a people who have lost what they counted on.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Do not withdraw your mercy from us, for the sake of Abraham your beloved and for the sake of your servant Isaac and Israel your holy one,” (3:35)
He does not say, “We have been faithful, standing here in the fire,” though he might have. He leans on what God promised.
“In our day we have no ruler, or prophet, or leader, no burnt offering, or sacrifice, or oblation, or incense, no place to make an offering before you and to find mercy.” (3:38)
The list strips everything away. All the ways by which Israel used to come before God are gone. For those whose parish, health or family has been taken from them, this verse gives words.
“Yet with a contrite heart and a humble spirit may we be accepted,” (3:39)
This is the turning point. Everything else has been taken, and the heart is still there to be given.
“for no shame will come to those who trust in you.” (3:40)
He says this from inside the furnace, before any rescue.
How the Church reads it.
The Church has placed this prayer at the heart of the Mass. After the gifts are set on the altar, the priest prays quietly, in words drawn from these verses: “With humble spirit and contrite heart may we be accepted by you, O Lord.” Azariah had no altar. We have one, and the words still apply: the one sacrifice of Christ is offered there, and we are asked to bring our own broken hearts to be joined to it. The Catechism teaches that outward sacrifice, to be genuine, must express the spiritual sacrifice of the heart, and it quotes Psalm 51 (CCC 2100).
Setting.
Chapter 18 is the fourth of the great discourses in Matthew, on life together in the community of disciples. It has spoken of the little ones, the lost sheep, and how to correct a brother who sins. Now Peter asks how far this goes. His offer of seven times is generous, and he may expect to be praised.
Some background is needed for the sums. A denarius was a laborer’s pay for a day (20:2), and a talent was about six thousand denarii. So ten thousand talents comes to some sixty million days’ wages, while a hundred denarii is about a hundred days’ wages. The first debt is six hundred thousand times the second. The figure is meant to be absurd: no servant could ever owe that or repay it.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” (18:22)
Anyone who is still counting has not yet forgiven. Jesus does not supply a higher number to keep track of. He ends the keeping of accounts.
“And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.” (18:27)
The servant asked only for time. The king gives him far more than he asked: the whole debt is gone.
“Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?” (18:33)
This is the center of the parable. He demanded the small debt so harshly only because he had forgotten the large one. Mercy received is meant to flow on.
“So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (18:35)
Forgiveness has a place, and it is the heart. Lips alone will not do. The severity of the end is the language of parable, a warning that a closed heart cannot go on receiving what it refuses to give.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism is unusually direct here. It calls it daunting that the outpouring of God’s mercy “cannot penetrate our hearts as long as we have not forgiven those who have trespassed against us” (CCC 2840). It also says, with great tenderness, that it is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense, but that the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory, transforming the hurt into intercession (CCC 2843). There is no limit or measure to this forgiveness (CCC 2845).
Does forgiving mean I must forget, or stay close to someone who harms me?
No. The Catechism says plainly that we cannot command ourselves to stop feeling or to forget (CCC 2843). To forgive is to give up revenge and the wish for harm, to hand the debt over to God, and to begin to pray for the person. It does not pretend that wrong was not wrong. It does not require anyone to stay in danger, and it does not cancel the claims of justice. Often it comes slowly, and the first step is simply to ask God for the willingness.