Fr. PJ McManus returns to the Catholic Morning Show with a Sunday Gospel reflection on Matthew 18:21–35, where Jesus tells Peter to forgive not seven times but seventy-seven times. Drawing on Sirach and Saint John Cassian, Fr. PJ explains why forgiveness is a daily choice of the will rather than a one-time act, and how clinging to anger blinds us to the truth. He shares a deeply personal story of encountering someone who had badly hurt him and invites listeners to let go of the anger they're still holding.
Fr. PJ McManus, back on the air after a lengthy sabbatical and now serving at Saint Catherine of Siena in the Drake neighborhood of Des Moines, previews the readings for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Sirach 27:30–28:7 and Matthew 18:21–35. Following Peter's arc over recent weeks — from confessing Jesus as the Christ to misunderstanding that the Messiah must suffer — Fr. PJ unpacks Peter's question, "How often must I forgive?" and Jesus' answer: stop counting.
Fr. PJ describes forgiveness not as a one-and-done event, but as a free, habitual act of the will that moves toward the good of the person who wronged us. Reflecting on Sirach's warning that the sinner "hugs" wrath and anger tight, he draws on the Church Fathers: the involuntary flash of anger is more symptom than disease, but the danger comes when we welcome it, rehearse it, and justify it until it becomes the lens through which we see another person. He points to Saint John Cassian's image of gold or lead plates laid over the eyes — whether our anger is over something big or small, the blindness is the same, compromising our judgment, our charity, and our relationship with God.
Connecting this Sunday to last week's Gospel on fraternal correction, Fr. PJ explains that the "two or three witnesses" are there not to gang up on someone, but to help the injured party see reality and the other person's perspective. He closes with a moving personal story of seeing someone who had hurt him deeply as a teenager come forward in his own Communion line, and invites listeners to ask the Lord what hurts they're still holding, what anger they're still hugging, and what they need to let go of in order to love again.
Heard on the Catholic Morning Show, weekdays at 7 a.m. Central on Iowa Catholic Radio. More at IowaCatholicRadio.com.
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