Mt tells the parable of the forgiven, and unforgiving, servant.
Forgetful of the mercy he has received as a gift, he neglects to apply the gratuity he has received to his neighbour in the same - or perhaps less serious - condition.
The Word exhorts us to exercise towards our brothers and sisters in need, what we already had in store.
Francis had many special qualities, but excelled in one: the stable and solid memory of divine Mercy bending over him, to the point of condoning all the errors of his past life.
He had experienced the fatherhood and motherhood of God, absorbed in those bowels of mercy that had visited and healed him inwardly.
For him, pity and forgiveness (as well as correction, when necessary) were two basic attitudes in the fraternal journey.
By now he carried carved in his heart Jesus' answer to Peter's question: how often to grant forgiveness.
The Lord answered him: «I say to you not seven times, but seventy times seven» (Mt 18:22). As if to say: "in every case and always".
Francis of Assisi, in a passage from his Letter to a Minister, explains well the continuous readiness to forgive, and to begin again without tiring. The accents of the passage are moving.
"I say to you [...] that those things that are an impediment to you in loving the Lord God, and every person who will be an obstacle to you [...] all this you must hold as a grace [...] And love those who act with you in this way [...]" (FF 234).
And again: "And in this I want to know if you love the Lord and love me his servant and yours, if you will behave in this way, namely: that there be no brother in the world, who has sinned, as much as it is possible to sin, who, after he has seen your eyes, does not go away without your forgiveness, if he asks for it; and if he does not ask forgiveness, you ask him if he wants to be forgiven. And if, afterwards, he sins a thousand times before your eyes, love him more than me for this: that you may draw him to the Lord; and always have mercy on such brothers" (FF 235).
The letter, a true jewel among those written by the Poverello, continues:
"If any of the brothers, at the instigation of the enemy, has mortally sinned, he is bound by obedience to have recourse to his guardian. And let all the brothers, who have knowledge of his sin, neither shame him nor speak ill of him, but have great mercy on him and keep the sin of their brother very secret, because it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick" (FF 237).
«Should not you also have pitied your fellow man, as I also have pitied you?» (Mt 18:21-35)
Tuesday 3rd wk. in Lent (Mt 18:21-35)
