My dear brothers and sisters, in today's Gospel we listen to a conversation between Peter and Jesus. Peter asks Jesus how often he must forgive others. This conversation is really a commentary on the fifth beatitude, which Jesus stated way back in Chapter 5 of St. Matthew's Gospel: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
Mercy goes against our fallen human nature. Automatically, we tend to play favorites, hold grudges, resent insults, demand our "rights," and care much more about our own hopes, plans, and problems than about others'.
When we do take an interest in other people, it's usually because we like them, and not because we view them as so valued by God that he sent his Son to die on the cross for them.
When we operate on this merely natural level, we always run into a limit in our ability to forgive those who offend or harm us. But Jesus is teaching us today that a Christian is called to be limitless in forgiveness: to be merciful as God is merciful.
We are glad that God is gentle and patient with us, always willing to forgive us, always showering us with his blessings, always there when we need him, always ready to understand us, always ready to sympathize with us before judging us… in short, we are glad that God is merciful with us, although we know we don't really deserve it.
And yet, we are often reluctant to be like that with others, just like the man in the parable.
If we don't let God help us overcome that reluctance, our hearts will become so closed that eventually Christ's mercy simply won't be able to get in.
If we do overcome it, they will open wider and wider, allowing the full flood of God's love to inundate them, making them an oasis for others who suffer, and a magnet for their kindness and generosity.
Blessed indeed are the merciful, for showing mercy is the only way to attract it.