Feast of St Clare. Virgin and Founder of the Poor Clares.

"UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO DO THE RIDICULOUS, GOD WILL NOT DO THE MIRACULOUS."
(MOTHER ANGELICA OF EWTN, A  POOR CLARE).

"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.” (Matthew 18: 21.... 19: 1).

Thursday 11th August 2022 of the 19th week of Ordinary Time is the feast of St Clare. (1193 - 1253). Italian. At 18, Clare was not only beautiful but her parents were very wealthy. She gave up everything to follow the original Little One, Jesus Christ our Savior. Imitating St Francis of Assisi, the little poor man of Assisi, Clare embraced radical poverty. She founded the Poor Clares and modeled its constitution from what she learned from St Francis of Assisi. The Poor Clares continue to serve the Church today.

I know one Poor Clare Nun, who made a great contribution to the world. Mother Angelica (+ 2016). She founded EWTN which is the only global Catholic Television Network in the world. For me, Mother Angelica is a saint. She prayed and worked. She suffered persecution from inside and outside the Church. She experienced much ill health most of her life. She remained a Poor Clare all her life. "Santo Subito!"

The Gospel today deals with the sensitive topic of Forgiveness. I reflected on this topic a couple of times and presumed that I am a forgiving person and understand a few things about Forgiveness. My attitude changed today when I looked closely at Peter's question. “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
I reflected thus: If someone offends me once on something serious, I am disposed by grace to forgive the person even immediately. If the same person repeats the same offense three or four times, that's a different ballgame. Then I realized that I had never understood Jesus teaching on Forgiveness.

When Jesus answered Peter, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times." Jesus is saying: You have to be perfect as My Father is perfect. His mercy has no limit. Let your own mercy be limitless. Think about this: Many of us who use the Sacrament of Reconciliation confess the same sins over and over again. For example:  "Forgive me Father for I have sinned....I lied 5 times in the past 4 weeks."  Many of us come back in the next few weeks and repeat:
"Forgive me Father for I have sinned....I lied 7 times in the past 4 weeks."
The priest who is acting in persona Christi in the Sacrament of Confession gives us absolution in the name of Jesus.

If we do not make effort to forgive those who offend us without counting the number of times we are offended, we will hear from Jesus:

"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?"

"My Mother, on the other hand, raises souls when they fall; she instills in them a confidence in My loving mercy, a readiness to believe in My merciful love, a desire to come into My presence and to expose to Me, the divine physician, the wounds suffered in spiritual combat. My Mother is the Mother of Holy Hope. She is the Mother of Holy Confidence. One who entrusts himself to My Mother will never fall into the pit of despair. Even when sorely tempted, there will remain in that soul enough confidence to turn to Me, and to make an act of abandonment to My merciful love that will touch My Heart and release from it a torrent of forgiveness, healing, and mercy." (IN SINU JESU page 203).

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