Have you ever held a grudge against someone, someone who offended you in some way? As a result, you gave yourself the right to hold a grudge so that you could get back in some way someday. Did holding that grudge make your life happier or healthier? Did holding the grudge enhance your life in some way? Probably not.

This Sunday’s first reading from Sirach contains these words: “Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.” Those words clearly tell us how to act when, in any way, we have experienced hurt.

Christ himself gave greater meaning to these words when he was asked how to pray. In that prayer we find “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Could it be any clearer?

In this Sunday’s Gospel, Peter asks how many times we should offer forgiveness. In response, Jesus presents a parable about the servant who received forgiveness, but who sought vengeance from a fellow servant.

We expect to receive forgiveness for our sins each time we approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are told in the Old Testament – and we believe – that we are made in the image and likeness of God. Doesn’t that mean that we should forgive others just as God forgives us?

Jesus owes us nothing, but he has given us everything. He has forgiven the worst things we have ever done. He would forgive the worst things we could ever imagine. And yet, with all that mercy to draw from, free for the taking, he still finds us holding grudges over much smaller wrongs done to us by the hands of another.

When we hold a grudge, we demonstrate that we have not understood this Gospel message. Holding a grudge adds stress to our lives, makes us miserable, shows us to be stubborn and pig-headed. Forgiving releases the stress, removes the elephant from the room and allows us to live in peace.

We do not deserve or merit the mercy God has shown us in Christ. We can’t earn it and we can’t repay it. But we can live it. We can forgive, and we can seek forgiveness. And as “seventy-seven” represents the limitless nature of God’s mercy toward us – so we can make it represent ours to one another.

So, if you really want to live, seek forgiveness and extend forgiveness. Just do it. Don’t bother counting how many times. Forgiving does not mean you approve of what caused the hurt. Rather, forgiving means you can rise above whatever caused the hurt. We pray each day: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Let’s make sure that we mean those words.