Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley

09/15/2026

09/14/2026

How will you proclaim God's mercy today?

Those of us who are parents, ministers, teachers, catechists, and elders must risk proclaiming the prodigal character of God’s mercy. We...

09/13/2026

Georges de la Tour (1593-1652), The Repentance of St. Peter (1646-1648).

Peter asks the Lord how many times he must forgive someone who wrongs him, “as many as seven times?” Three times was a standard in Judaism. Peter’s seven, in his mind, would have been over the top, and spiritually complete (7 is the symbolic number for fullness or completeness). Jesus’ response of seventy times seven times is hard to even imagine…this is how he intended it. Forgiveness from God is boundless, as it is expressed in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus. Forgiveness among us as his followers is to be as boundless as God’s. The parable in today’s gospel speaks to our own experience of forgiveness and how it needs to train our hearts to be forgiving, which in fact suggests a progression of our capacity. Unforgiveness can come from a defensiveness, a fear of future hurt. Jesus would have us set that fear aside so that his love can work in us, because fear closes us.

The painting by de la Tour reminds us that Peter probably only came to understand the forgiveness Jesus was talking about when he himself needed it most. After his denial of Christ, Peter sits in the darkness of that three-day night, filled with regret, looking for clarity. He stares beyond the physical light that illumines him in space, hoping for an interior light to dawn – the forgiveness Jesus promised…seventy times seven times…it is a hope beyond hope in the moment. Only when he understands that Jesus’ love reaches beyond fear, beyond death, when Jesus asks him to re-affirm his love three times, does he understand in his own heart that seven times is not enough.

09/13/2026

Must we forgive? Always?

Jesus’ parable teaches us about mercy — about what mercy looks like and how we are to give it to others. Recall the time when you were a...

09/12/2026

Who do you know who is welcoming and merciful towards everyone, as Pope Francis encourages us to be? Read more: http://mountcarmelmv.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-welcoming-and-merciful-attitude.html

09/11/2026

How many times must we forgive?

It is worth listening carefully to the questions that arise in the Gospels. They are rarely just trivial; they are our questions too. [...