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Memorial of St. Justin, Martyr
I Peter 4:7-13
Psalm 96:10,11-12,13
Mark 11:11-26
S
UMMARY
Both the first reading and the gospel are about forgiveness. As our
heavenly prayer teaches us, ˈForgive us our trespasses as we forgive
those who trespass against usˉ, we are to forgive those who have
wronged us so that our heavenly father may, in turn, forgive us our
transgressions.
R
EFLECTION
How many of us are constantly in a ˈtrial by fireˉ as referenced in the
first reading? Whether this ˈfireˉ be by personal sacrifice or by trying
to understand and accept the ˄fires˅ that we are trying to constantly
put out around us. The ˄fires˅ being
our child˅s dilemmas, our parents˅
health, our friendships, our compan-
ionsˎthere seems to be a never-
ending inferno happening in our lives.
And in all of this, God is requesting
that we forgive, those who cause the
fires, those who are leery to hand us a
˄fire extinguisher˅ and even ourselves.
We must learn to forgive those around
us and to help in the extinguishing the
fires that surround us. It is easy to