Living and Dying for the Lord! Doing My Best to Be Kind, Loving, and Full of Mercy As God Wants Us to Do!

While it is not at all easy, we have to do our best to be kind, merciful, and loving to all, our neighbors, our enemies, all people who cross our paths.  All of life is a test here on this Earth School. It is never easy. We may have someone take advantage of you, hate you, ignore you, avoid you, cancel you, treat you poorly. We just need to try to be kind, merciful, and loving anyway. Forgive them and move on, let go. We are all responsible in the end for our own lives and what we bind on this Earth. Even priests and so called leaders who may lead us astray or hurt us too. We see a lot of this today in our government, from elected, and from people of authority, even priests and clergy who you would not expect. We cannot give up our faith and trust in the Lord due to injustice or poor treatment, we need to go on loving, forgiving, and doing the best we can in an upright way, living for the Lord in this life and with hopes when we die in the eternal life we have with Christ in Heaven. We need to pray and forgive our neighbors injustice and poor treatment, pray and be loving and forgiven nonetheless, it is not always easy. Whether we live or die, we are the Lords, we must never forget that, we are put here by Him! We are supposed to forgive 77 times, some say 7 x 7, others say 7 x 70, anyway, we just need to forgive, pray, love, show mercy, and move on, some people will just keep taking advantage of us. It is not easy, we just need to do the best we can. Remember in Psalms it says, "The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion!" We need to also try to be like Him, it is not easy, but we need to try, we need to forgive those who hurt us, persecute us, ignore us, avoid us, who are not loving, kind or welcoming. We need to love one another as God says. Even priests need to love all their parishioners. God wants all of us to love each other! Love is never easy, but we all need to try very hard, it is likely the hardest thing for all human beings. I will forgive them and pray for them each day, I pray they pray for me too and we can all get to Heaven making amends for all and being good Christians we are all called to be. 

Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading 1
Sirach 27:30—28:7
Wrath and anger are hateful things,
yet the sinner hugs them tight.
The vengeful will suffer the LORD's vengeance,
for he remembers their sins in detail.
Forgive your neighbor's injustice;
then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.
Could anyone nourish anger against another
and expect healing from the LORD?
Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself,
can he seek pardon for his own sins?
If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath,
who will forgive his sins?
Remember your last days, set enmity aside;
remember death and decay, and cease from sin!
Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor;
remember the Most High's covenant, and overlook faults.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.
For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.
R. The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

Reading 2
Romans 14:7-9
Brothers and sisters:
None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself.
For if we live, we live for the Lord,
and if we die, we die for the Lord;
so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.
For this is why Christ died and came to life,
that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Alleluia
John 13:34
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
I give you a new commandment, says the Lord;
love one another as I have loved you.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel
Matthew 18:21-35
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
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 your brother from your heart."