Hey everybody, this is Father John Ricardo from Acts 29 and in the middle of all the craziness

that's going on right now. It seems from our perspective as a team that it's worth using these days

to reflect on the scriptures. So we're going to do a special podcast simply entitled, Do Not Be Afraid,

God's Word and Uncertain Times. And we'll try to post something every day, usually reflecting on the scriptures, so we can listen in on what God is trying to say to us.

As we continue to live through these crazy, strange, most unusual days, at least in my lifetime, and almost certainly in the lifetime of most of us, the scriptures

today seem to be particularly appropriate, most especially the gospel. I just want to share

with you what I felt like the Lord was sharing with me as I was praying with it this morning

and celebrating Mass here in the office where I work. So the gospel has to do with Peter coming to Jesus asking an all-important question

and one that we all struggle with.

The question has to do with forgiveness.

Namely, how often do I need to forgive someone who's hurt me?

Or perhaps for some of us, is there a limit to the deeds that we forgive somebody? Like,

certainly we don't forgive somebody for, like, abusing us when we were a child, or for cheating

on us, or something tremendously serious in our lives. But Jesus actually says, yeah, we do,

and we have to continually forgive.

So Peter asks the question, Lord, do I have to forgive somebody as many as seven times?

And Jesus says, no, Peter, not seven times, 77 times, which is more or less

Jesus' way of saying to Peter, stop counting.

And so he says to me too,

stop counting. Forgive all the time, every time, no matter what. And then he goes on to tell a parable.

So it's a story, right? That's the reason for the parables, because stories have a way of lodging in our minds

and putting us there in a way that's a little bit more dramatic and impactful

...