Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, "I repent," you must forgive.

Practice makes perfect!

What happened to that popular saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me"? Instead Jesus is calling us to forgive, over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. Why? When we are honest with ourselves we know that we, daily, are the ones who sin against God and our neighbor seven times and more than seven times. And yet we are receivers of forgiveness beyond measure by the awesome grace of God. We are called to remember that grace we have received and to practice sharing it with others. The practice of forgiveness doesn't make us perfect - but it does help to draw us closer to the one who is perfect -who washes us in the waters of baptism and makes of us a new creation.