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Cardinal Roger Mahony Blogs LA

In the monthly prayer and Mass booklet, Magnificat, the Lenten Gospel for March 5 is according to Matthew: chapter 18, verses 21–35. One of Jesus’ more powerful parables on forgiveness awaits you.

But it’s the Meditation of the Day which is striking. Written by the late Monsignor Romano Guardini, a famous theologian and liturgist, it is well worth reflection:

Forgiveness should be no occasion, but our habitual attitude towards others….If you wish to obey Christ, you must first free yourself of all “righteous” indignation. Only if you forgive entirely, can you contact the true self of the other, whom his own rebelliousness is holding back. If you can reach this better self, you have a good chance of being heard, and of winning your brother. This then is the great doctrine of forgiveness on which Jesus insists as one of the fundamentals of…