‘Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you’. These words are from our New Testament reading today, from Ephesians.

St John Chrysostom commented: ‘Now look how the blessed Paul, according to the rules of the best husbandry, thoroughly cleans and works the land entrusted to him by the Husbandman. He has taken away the bad seeds; he now exhorts us to retain the good plants. Be kind, says he, for if, when the thorns are plucked up, the field remains idle, it will again bear unprofitable weeds. And therefore there is need to preoccupy its unoccupied and fallow state by the setting of good seeds and plants. He takes away anger, he puts in kindness; he takes away bitterness, he puts in tender-heartedness; he extirpates malice and railing, he plants forgiveness in their stead. For the expression, forgiving one another, is this; be disposed, he means, to forgive one another. … For by this way of acting, he not only renders himself, but the other also, more charitable’.

May we thus build up the Body of Christ in charity, by mutual forgiveness. Sometimes this process can take a while, but we are encouraged to persevere, and our perseverance will in the end bear fruit. May God bless you this day.