There was a story of a man who was brought to the hospital because of a brutal accident. The man died. Authorities found out that he was living alone in a run-down apartment.  He was poor and had no permanent job. The hospital later found a close relative who took his body.

The relative went to his apartment to claim his belongings, which were not a lot. While fixing the man’s belongings, he was struck with a particular painting hanging on the kitchen wall.  It is simple but elegant. It looks like a masterpiece. Out of curiosity, the relative brought the painting to an art gallery to be appraised.

They discovered that the painting was an original work of a famous Spanish painter, Pablo Picasso. The painting was appraised for one million dollars. (Check your paintings in your homes today. You never know how much they cost!)

The man was living in extreme poverty. He did not have any idea how much money he had. The man went from one place to another, working hard to survive without thinking he was worth a million dollars.

You and I could be that man. We may be living a life of extreme poverty—I do not mean material poverty, but spiritual poverty.  We may be suffering from guilt over a long period without realizing the healing of God. We may not even realize the power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation all through these years.

It is difficult to be happy and content, it is challenging to offer mercy, and it is difficult to forgive others if we do not realize and appreciate the unsurmountable blessings of God in our lives.

More frequently, many of us go into our everyday motion without thinking, valuing, and appreciating how worthy we are as a person, without realizing God’s forgiveness and blessings bestowed on us.

The servant’s story in the parable that Jesus told in the Gospel today is a sign of being unable to grasp the tremendous treasures of the Lord. The servant did not forgive the other servant. It may be because he was just purely a mean-spirited person. But I bet he did not offer forgiveness to another servant because he lacks the appreciation of the forgiveness that the Lord has bestowed on him.

The word servant means a slave.  It could mean a king’s official or minister during the ancient period, which seems to be the case in our reading.  The servant owes the king a huge amount. I will tell you how much it is: The Greek translation of this Gospel says that the servant owed the king many talents, a monetary unit that costs ten thousand denarii.  A talent represents six thousand denarii.  A single denarius represents a day’s wage.  This means that a person worked for years before he could get a talent’s worth. The servant’s debt to the king was enormous.

Jesus is telling us indirectly that we cannot pay back our debt to God. In God’s mercy, he forgives us and grants us grace. Meanwhile, the man owed the first servant only 130 denarii, and he could not even forgive him. If we just realize how much God has forgiven and how much God has blessed us, then we can avoid becoming like that unforgiving servant who, though he received forgiveness, failed to forgive others in return.

It is about time to discover our treasure and the value of the priceless act of God’s forgiveness and love for us.