MUST

Please pray for an increase in Eucharistic Adoration.

Mt 18:21-35 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."

In scripture, 7 is the perfect number:

2Kings 5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

Deut 5:12 Observe the Sabbath day (7th day) by keeping it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.

Ex 22:30 Do the same with your cattle and your sheep. Let them stay with their mothers for seven days, but give them to me on the eighth day.

Josh 6:3-4 Have all the soldiers circle the city, marching once around it. Do this for six days, with seven priests carrying ram’s horns ahead of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, and have the priests blow the horns.

Gen 2:2-3 On the seventh day God completed the work he had been doing; He rested on the seventh day from all the work He had undertaken. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work He had done in creation.

And on and on and on.

"how often MUST I forgive him?" Was St. Peter looking for an out? How much is enough? What's the limit? I want to be charitable, but just how charitable MUST I be?

Jesus tells us, just as He told St. Peter, "seventy-seven times." The perfect number times perfection - NO LIMIT.

Let us meditate on the word MUST. How often do we search for a limit? A limit in our prayer life, a limit in charity, a limit in forgiveness. How often MUST I go to confession? How much time MUST I spend in Adoration?

We need to find the MUST question in our Spiritual life. Then stand in front of the crucifix, look at the face of Jesus and see if we can really ask Him that limiting question?