A holy heart is a grateful heart!

THE WORD IN LENT

Tuesday, 3rd week in Lent - March 22, 2022

Daniel 3: 25, 34-43; Matthew 18: 21-35

One fundamental quality of people who are evil, who plot the ruin of others or who do not love others enough, is ingratitude. Showing mercy to others will be an automatic outcome, if a person is mindful of all the good that he or she has received. St. Paul would ask a very poignant question: 'what do you have that you have not received?" (1 Cor 4:7) If we have received so much good and we acknowledge that we have received them all, will we not be considerate that we have to reciprocate the same to others around me: that is the connection between being grateful and being good. 

The parable that Jesus narrates today is a such a beautiful depiction of how we behave at times: receiving in such abundance but so calculative while giving! The man was forgiven an amount that was equal to 15 years wages while he refused to forgive one day's wages someone owed! What a contrast that Jesus presents here... Be mindful of how good the Lord is to you and your goodness will be automatically increase. 

In the first reading we see a cry for help to the Lord but even in that dire situation we do not see or feel any desperation on the part of the one who is making the invocation. There is only trust that stands out. That is a heart that was so mindful of all the good that the Lord had done till then. 

A truly grateful person will grow easily to be holy. Gratitude is, never to take anything for granted: once a person acknowledges every small good that the Lord does to oneself, the person will grow conscious of how indebted one is. That is the beginning of the commitment to repay the goodness of the Lord: can we really do it? The starting point of holiness has to be this: because God is so good, I have to be good; because God is so forgiving, I have to forgive; because God is so holy, I have to be holy!