Today's gospel (Mt 18:21 - 19:1) brings us face-to-face with reality again. We may sin once or many times in our lives. God, we believe, will forgive us. However, the pain that the sin cause and the guilt a sinner might endure because of it will not necessarily disappear from our personal radar screen.
The parable about the forgiving king is also a story about a king who teaches us that it is useless to seek forgiveness for debts owed to God IF we cannot ourselves forgive those who have hurt or sinned against us at one time or another.
Sometimes we feel that if we ask God for forgiveness and still feel guilty, then God has not forgiven us. Quite the contrary: God may have forgiven us but his forgiveness does not necessarily take away our feeling bad about our sinfulness.
The damage we can inflict upon others may through their kindness be forgiven but they may not be able to forget the injury done. This is particularly true when a person's tongue becomes a weapon, seriously injuring another person's good name. Likewise misleading others through actions or lies does terrible damage. Again, it may be forgiven but in many cases it is not forgotten.
