March 24, 2013. Wednesday, Holy Week

Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)

From: Matthew 26:14-25

Judas Betrays Jesus
------------------------------
[14] Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests [15] and said, "What will you give me if I deliver Him (Jesus) to you?" 
And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. [16] And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray Him.

Preparations for the Last Supper
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[17] Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus,saying, "Where will You have us prepare for You to eat the Passover?" [18] He said, "Go into the city to such a one, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.'" [19] And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared for the Passover.

[20] When it was evening, He sat at table with the twelve disciples; [21] and as they were eating, He said, "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." [22] And they were very sorrowful, and began to say to Him one after another, "Is it I,
Lord?" [23] He answered, "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with Me, will betray Me. [24] The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." [25] Judas, who betrayed Him, said, "Is it I, Master?"  He said to him, "You have said so."


Commentary:

15. It is disconcerting and sobering to realize that Judas Iscariot actually went as far as to sell the man whom he had believed to be the Messiah and who had called him to be one of the Apostles. Thirty shekels or pieces of silver were the price of a slave (cf. Exodus 21:32), the same value as Judas put on his Master.

17. This unleavened bread, azymes, took the form of loaves which had to be eaten over a seven-day period, in commemoration of the unleavened bread which the Israelites had to take with them in their hurry to leave Egypt (cf. Exodus 12:34). In Jesus' time the Passover supper was celebrated on the first day of the week of the Unleavened Bread.

18. Although the reference is to an unnamed person, probably our Lord gave the person's actual name. In any event, from what other evangelists tell us (Mark 14:13; Luke 22:10), Jesus gave the disciples enough information to enable them to find the house.

22. Although the glorious events of Easter have yet to occur (which will teach the Apostles much more about Jesus), their faith has been steadily fortified and deepened in the course of Jesus' public ministry (cf. John 2:11; 6:68-69) through their contact with Him and the divine grace they have been given (cf. Matthew
16:17). At this point they are quite convinced that our Lord knows their internal attitudes and how they are going to act: each asks in a concerned way whether he will prove to be loyal in the time ahead.

24. Jesus is referring to the fact that He will give Himself up freely to suffering and death. In so doing He would fulfill the Will of God, as proclaimed centuries before (cf. Psalm 41:10; Isaiah 53:7). Although our Lord goes to His death voluntarily, this does not reduce the seriousness of Judas' treachery.

25. This advance indication that Judas is the traitor is not noticed by the other Apostles (cf. John 13:26-29).

March 24, 2013. Homily, Tuesday, March 26, 2013

John 13: 21-33, 36-38

Residing at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, "Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of the disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus' side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus' chest and said to him, "Master, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it." So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, "What you are going to do, do quickly." Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, "Buy what you need for the feast," to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

When he had left, Jesus said, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, 'Where I go you cannot come, so now I say it to you."

Simon Peter said to him, "Master, where are you going?" Jesus answered him, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later." Peter said to him, "Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not Crow before you deny me three times."

The Gospel of the Lord.


John's Gospel is the Book of Signs followed by the Book of Glory. So here we have Jesus reclining at table "deeply troubled" and Jesus testified "Amen, amen I say to you, one of you will betray me." A prophesy by Jesus. Peter asks "the one whom Jesus loved [John, the writer of this Gospel]" to find out whom Jesus meant. And Jesus indicated Judas. Then Jesus sent Judas on his way. Judas "left at once." "And it was night."

Now starts the Book of Glory. For Jesus says, "Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him." Now starts the Passion of the Lord. And none of the "disciples" are to undergo the Passion with him except as observers. Each fail in their own way. Judas betrays him. And John with knowledge of the betrayer Judas takes no steps to stop Judas. Peter takes up the sword to defend Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and cuts off the ear of the servant of the high priest. But Peter is stayed and the servant's ear healed. Peter goes on to deny Jesus "three times". Jesus forgives Peter (after the Ascension when he asks Peter "three times" whether Peter loves him) and forgives John (at the Cross where Jesus gives care of his mother Mary to John). Judas commits suicide, so that we assume that Jesus did not forgive Judas. But would Jesus have forgiven Judas. What precedent do we have. Well, Jesus forgave Saul (who orchestrated the murder/martyrdom of Stephen) for Saul became Paul the great apostle and missionary to the Gentiles.

Passion, Death and Resurrection. The three days of the Passion and Death are the prologue to the Resurrection of Jesus and the attendant eternity of the Glory of Jesus.

March 22, 2013. Homily, Saturday, March 23, 2012

John 11:45-56.
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what Jesus had done began to believe in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. If we leave him alone, all will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our land and our nation." But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing, nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish." He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one, the dispersed children of God. So from that day on they planned to kill him.
So Jesus no longer walked about in public among the Jews, but he left for the region near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and there he remained with his disciples.
Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves. They looked for Jesus and said to one another as they were in the temple area, "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?"
The Gospel of the Lord.

Caiaphas: "nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish."
"He did not say this on his own, but since he was high priest for that year, [H]e [Caiaphas had] prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not only for the nation, but also to gather into one, the dispersed children of God."

Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI: Jesus, disgraced and mistreated, is honorably buried in a new tomb. Nicodemus brings a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight, which gives off a precious scent. In the Son's self-offering, as at his anointing in Bethany, we see an "excess" which evokes God's generous and superabundant love. God offers himself unstintingly. If God's measure is superabundance, then we for our part should consider nothing too much for God. This is the teaching of Jesus himself, in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:20). But we should also remember the words of Saint Paul, who says that God "through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of Christ everywhere. We are the aroma of Christ" (2 Cor 2:14ff.). Amid the decay of ideologies, our faith needs once more to be the fragrance which returns us to the path of life. At the very moment of his burial, Jesus' words are fulfilled: "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit" (Jn 12:24). Jesus is the grain of wheat which dies. From that lifeless grain of wheat comes forth the great multiplication of bread which will endure until the end of the world. Jesus is the bread of life which can satisfy superabundantly the hunger of all humanity and provide its deepest nourishment. Through his Cross and Resurrection, the eternal Word of God became flesh and bread for us. The mystery of the Eucharist already shines forth in the burial of Jesus.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus Christ, in your burial you have taken on the death of the grain of wheat. You have become the lifeless grain of wheat which produces abundant fruit for every age and for all eternity. From the tomb shines forth in every generation the promise of the grain of wheat which gives rise to the true manna, the Bread of Life, in which you offer us your very self. The eternal Word, through his Incarnation and death, has become a Word which is close to us: you put yourself into our hands and into our hearts, so that your word can grow within us and bear fruit. Through the death of the grain of wheat you give us yourself, so that we too can dare to lose our life in order to find it, so that we too can trust the promise of the grain of wheat. Help us grow in love and veneration for your Eucharistic mystery to make you, the Bread of heaven, the source of our life. Help us to become your "fragrance", and to make known in this world the mysterious traces of your life. Like the grain of wheat which rises from the earth, putting forth its stalk and then its ear, you could not remain enclosed in the tomb: the tomb is empty because he the Father "did not abandon you to the nether world, nor let your flesh see corruption" (Acts 2:31; Ps 16:10 LXX). No, you did not see corruption. You have risen, and have made a place for our transfigured flesh in the very heart of God. Help us to rejoice in this hope and bring it joyfully to the world. Help us to become witnesses of your resurrection.

Sunday March 17, 2013. Homily, Tuesday. March 19, 2013

Matthew 1:18-25

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was h is intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."  All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophets:
        Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, 
       and they shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us." When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus.
The Gospel of the Lord.

"Jesus" means "God saves."


 Immanuel literally means "God is with us" - cf. Mt 1:23
      2. This name describes the Messiah's NATURE; i.e., that He is
         Deity!
         a. Other passages expound upon this aspect of Christ's nature
            1) He is "Mighty God, Everlasting Father" - Isa 9:6
            2) He is "God", possessing the "glory of God"; the Great
               "I AM", who shared in the glory of the Father prior to
               His incarnation - cf. Jn 1:1-3,14; 8:56-59; 17:5 (cf.
               Isa 42:8)
            3) Declared to be "the Son of God with power" by virtue of
               His resurrection - Ro 1:3-4
            4) He was "equal with God" who willingly humbled Himself
               - cf. Php 2:5-11
            5) In Him "dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"
               - Col 2:9
         b. Human minds, finite and feeble, wrestle with this great
            mystery, but Jesus was "God manifested in the flesh"!
            - 1Ti 3:16

CONCLUSION

1. Would you have a strong foundation for your faith and hope?
   a. Then keep in constant view your Savior's name "IMMANUEL" ("God
      with us")
   b. For having become flesh, God understands our human plight - cf.
      He 2:17-18



Luke 2:41-52.

Each year Jesus' parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
The Gospel of the Lord.

The family is the privileged setting where every person learns to give and to receive love.
The family is the intermediate institution between individuals and society.
The family is a great and lifelong treasure for couples.
The family is a school.
The Holy Family is a model for the family.
   - Pope Benedict XVI.

A gospel of Luke. Dear and Glorious Physician, the title of the book on the life of Luke by Taylor Caldwell. At the cross, Jesus committed the care of his mother to the apostle John, the apostle that Jesus loved, and said to Mary, "Woman, behold your son" and to John, "Behold your mother." And John immediately took Mary into his home.

At the end of their days, John and Mary lived in Ephesus, then a commercial metropolis on a harbor of the Mediterranean, over time the entrance to the harbor silted up, and Ephesus was abandoned. Now, ancient Ephesus is a valley leading down to the Sea, some two miles away, and the sides of the valley have been dug away revealing houses along both sides of the valley. The floor of the valley is a stream with a bed made of marble, and street lights with the reflecting surfaces made of sheets of marble. There is a Library and an ancient toilet facility. The recovery effort is perhaps half completed. The tradition is that Luke would visit Mary where she was living with John and that Mary told Luke stories of the childhood of Jesus. This gospel is one of those stories. Also, Luke drew a portrait of Mary, which we call the Signpost; the original was destroyed but a copy remains which is the picture we know and distribute here in our parish as prayer cards with the picture of Our Lady of Perpetual Help.

When we read this gospel, it says that Jesus was 12 years old. Every year a faithful Jew must travel to the Temple to worship. Jesus and his family were on that pilgrimage and his parents lost him, and went back looking for him. "They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers." So Jesus was 12 in the midst of the the teachers "listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers." We can compute his IQ from these facts. IQ or Intelligence Quotient is your score on a test at a given age as compared with the average score of a person who is 16. If you score the same as a person of 16, you IQ is 100, if your score 50% higher your IQ is 150. 150 is the score of very intelligent persons; 200 is the theoretical top score. If we assume that the IQ of the teachers in the temple were 150, then their mental ages were 16 plus 50% of 16 or 24. Then if the if the understanding and answers of the child Jesus at 12 "astounded" the teachers, he at 12 was at a higher level than them; if their IQ's were 150, or a mental age of 24, then the mental age of the 12 year old Jesus was higher than 24, so that his IQ was higher than 200.

When his parents saw him, they were astonished and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" We have two uses of the term, "Father" one by Mary, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." That "father' being Joseph. and the second by Jesus, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" Or in other words, Why did you find it so hard to locate me, did you not know that I must be in my Father's house? That "Father" being God, the temple where they found Jesus being the house of God.

And they (Jesus and Mary) did not understand "and his mother kept all these things in her heart."

He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. And Jesus lived with his parents until He was 30 years of age when he began his public life.

March 15, 2013. Homily, Saturday, March 16, 2013

John 7: 40-53

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said, "This is truly the Prophet." Others said, "This is the Christ." But others said, "The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not Scripture say the the Christ will be of David's family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?" So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
So the guards went to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them. "Why did you not bring him?' The guards answered, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man. " So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd which does not know the law is accursed." Nicodemus, one of their members who had come to him earlier, said to them, "Does our law condemn a man before it first hears him and finds out what he is doing?" They answered and said to him. "You are not from Galilee also, are you? Look and see that no prophet arises from Galilee."
Then each went to his own house.
The Gospel of the Lord.

Pope Francis was elected Wednesday, three days ago. His election broke precedent, in that he was the first Jesuit elected Pope, the first Pope from the Americas, the first Pope to take the name "Francis".  When he appeared on the balcony for his first appearance as Pope, he said that his brothers had searched to the ends of the earth to find and elect him, across the seas to South America and down South America to Buenas Aries. He first asked the people for their blessing, bent down to receive it, and then gave all present and all who listening a plenary indulgence with his blessing. He did not wear his ermine cap or his ermine stole.  he was giving all a new start. The press said that his name "Francis" was from Francis of Assisi but the given name of one of the founders of the Society of Jesus, Francis Xavier is also "Francis".
Francis of Assisi is known for his humility as well as his holiness, while Francis Xavier is known for his missionary zeal together with his holiness.
John's Gospel is in two major parts: The Book of Signs and the Book of Glory.

The gospel of John read earlier this week has Jesus curing the man at Sheep's Gate lying by the pool of Bethesda who had been sick 38 years with the words, "Rise up, take up your mat and go home." And Jesus being asked by the court official to come and cure the official's son, Jesus saying the words , "Your son will live.", and the official believing and returning home with the son cured at the very hour Jesus had spoken. And John 7:37-38, has "On the last and greatest day of the feast [Feast of Tabernacles], Jesus stood up and exclaimed, 

       'Let any one who thirsts come to me and drink. 
      Whoever believes in me, as Scripture says 
               "Rivers of living water will flow from him."'" 

So we have, "Never before has anyone spoken like this man."

The Pharisees relied on their knowledge of the Book without doing their own research, whether learning where Jesus had been born or themselves observing his Signs in the form of his miracles, but instead passing over Jesus in that they thought he had come from Galilee. Galilee was the Brooklyn of Palestine with the Aramaic equivalent of Brooklyn's dese, dem and dose. Instead, they dismissed the thought of Jesus and each went to his own home.

The simple trappings of deliberation make academics think they have reached an opinion through reasoned debate, instead, in part, through am irrational social dynamic. A group-think environment produces a one-sided academy. Bauerlain's law of group polarization: when like-minded people deliberate, their general opinion shifts toward extreme versions of their common beliefs.

If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

MArch 11, 2013. Homily, Tuesday, March 12, 2013

John 5:1-16.

There was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep Gate a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes. In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame and crippled. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him laying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me." Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up your mat, and walk." Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.
Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who was cured, "It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." He answered them. "The man who made me well told me, 'Take up your mat and walk.'" They asked him, "Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?" They asked him, "Who is the man who told you, 'Take it up and walk'?" The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there. After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him, "Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you." The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.
The Gospel of the Lord.

Jesus, not the pool at Bethesda, is the pool of life. Jesus is the life-giving water.

This whole Gospel shows violations of the sabbath yet Jesus is the one persecuted by the Jews:
the sick man was one of many by the pool at Bethesda in the temple area waiting for an opporunity to be cured.
each of the sick had to be carried down to the pool when it was stirred up.
Jesus did not carry the man to the pool but instead cured him in place then told him to take up his mat and go home.
The man was curted and was carrying his mat but the Jews were not concerned that the man had been sick for thirty-eight years but were only concerned that the cured man ws carrying his mat home.
And the Jews were only concerned not of the cure after thurty-eight years of sickness but only that the cure had been done on the sabbath.
And because of the cure on the sabbath (a technicality in the face of a miracle) the Jews began to persecute Jesus.
Posted by Daniel Murphy at 10:52 AM No comments:

March 6, 2013. Homily, Saturday, March 9, 2013

Luke 18:9-14
Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else. "Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself. 'O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.' But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner.' I tell you the latter went home justified, not the former; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."
The Gospel of the Lord.

Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

That is the point of this parable: it is addressed to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.

What can I do with you, Ephraim. What can I do with you, Judah. Your piety is like a morning cloud.

Jesus, one of the three persons in God, is not overhearing but intercepting these prayers:
The Pharisee spoke "this [his] prayer to himself."
The Pharisee is convinced of his own righteousness and despised everyone else. "O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity - greedy, dishonest, adulterous". "[O]r even like this tax collector": The Pharisee despised the tax collector.

The tax collector beat his breast and prayed, "O God, be merciful to me a sinner."

Jesus concluded, "I tell you the latter [tax collector] went home justified, not the former [the Pharisee]; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted."

March 4, 2013. Homily, Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Mt. 18:21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered , "I say to you, not seven times but seventy=seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. No when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."
The Gospel of the Lord.

50th Anniversary of the death in an airplane crash of Patsy Cline, American Singer, age 30.

The point of this Gospel is that forgiveness is meant to be unlimited. It is not to be measured.
grace = gift.
give/forgive.
Our failure to know joy is a direct reflcection of our inability to forgive.


seven times: when Cain killed Abel, the very ground cried out. God put the mark of Cain on Cain so that anyone who harmed Cain would be punished sevenfold. Six generations later, Lamech, Cain's descendant, killed a man who had injured him and and a boy who had struck him, Lamech boasted anyone harming him [Lamech] would be punished seven times seventy times.

We must forgive others even those we love who have hurt us. Something in the human heart likes to nurse a grudge. But only when we let go of what is consuming us, only when we forgive and wipe the slate clean, that peace can return, and we can get on with our lives. Let it go.

a talent was the largest denomination of a bill in ancient Palestine [say 10,000 dollars; our largest denomination is $100].

a talent = 6000 denarii.
a denarius was the equivalent of one day's wage.

The GDP of Palestine at that time was 600 talents.

The point of the parable is that Jesus is comparing Peter to the unjust servant, because Peter wants to put a limit on forgiveness.