Seventy Times Seven

The Denial of St. Peter, Caravaggio

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.”

Matthew 18:21-22 (RSVCE)

And what if the person who needs forgiveness is yourself?

I’m doing it again: thinking and acting out of anxiety, with all its annoying, tear-inducing subsequent behaviors. The context does not matter. What does is that, for a few days, I lost track of my Advent resolution to follow my own advice and widen my scope:

Push back. Open your eyes. Reach out. Look to God. Look to your neighbor. Ground yourself in natural and supernatural reality. See those fearsome phantoms in your head for what they are: mere shadows.

For my Scripture for the Scrupulous subscribers: does it help to know that the struggle is ongoing? That we can make progress, but perfection belongs to the Lord? God has His ways of keeping me humble, and this is one.

Repent. Turn to God. Recall His love.

Examine my conscience. Ask forgiveness. Make amends.

Focus on my family and my work.

Seventy times seven.

“Lord, who will save me from this body of death?”

Jesus, I trust in Thee.

Mary, Lady, Queen, and Mother, I trust in your prayers and the prayers of all the saints.

Guardian Angel, fight for me.