10 March 2026 – Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
Daniel 3:25, 34–43; Matthew 18:21–35
Homily
This business of seven times and seventy times seven is a very old story. It dates back to the time of Cain and Abel. After Abel's murder, according to the account in Genesis, God drove Cain out of Paradise. Cain then said to God, ‘If you drive me out today from the face of the ground, I shall be hidden from your face, and I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.’ And the Lord replied, ‘If anyone kills Cain, he will be avenged seven times over.’ And a few generations later, Lamech, Cain's grandson, took two wives, Ada and Zilla, and said to them, rather boastfully, "Ada and Zilla, hear my voice! Wives of Lamech, listen to my words! Yes, I have killed a man for a wound, a child for a bruise. Yes, Cain will be avenged seven times, but Lamech seventy-seven times."