Perpetual Forgiveness

Quaerenti deinde Petro, an peccanti in se fatri septies remitteret, respondit: Non usque septies sed usque septuagiessepties. Omni modo ad similitudinem nos humilitatis ac bonitatis suae instruit, et molliendis ac frangendis turbidorum motuum nostrorum aculeis, placabilitatis suae confirmat exemplo: quippe peccatorum omnium veniam per fidem tribuens. Neque enim naturae nostrae vitia indulgentiam merebantur. Ergo venia omnis ex eo est: cum etiam ea quae in se sint peccata, post reditum confessionis indulgeat. Solvenda quidem per Cain poena in septuplum constituta est: sed peccatum illud in hominem est; in Abel enim fratrem peccatum usque ad necem fuerat. Sed in Lamech supplicum usque ad septuagies et septies est constitutum; et in eo, quantum existimamus, constituta in auctores dominicae passionis et poena. Sed Dominus per confessionem credentium hujus criminis veniam largitur, id est, per baptismi munus obtrectatoribus ac persecutoribus gratiam salutis indulgeat: quanto magis portere ostendit sine modo ac numero veniam a nobis esse reddendam, nec cogitandum quotiens remittamus; sed ut irasci his qui in nos peccant, quotiens irascendi necessitas exstiterit, desinamus? Quae utique veniae assiduitas docet, nullum omnino penes nos irae tempus esse oportere: quando omnium omnino peccaminum veniam Deus nobis suo potius munere, quam nostro merito largiatur. Neque enim fas est, nos ex praescripto legis, dandae veniae numero concludi, cum per Evangelii gratiam sine modo nobis a Deo fuerit indulta. Quin etiam ad perfectae bonitatis affectum comparationis posuit exemplum, in qua servo unde redderet non habenti, omne Dominus debitum relaxavit: conservoque suo servus ille exiguum quod sibi debebatur extorquens, per hoc voluntatis suae vitium donum munificentiae Domini et liberalitatis amisit. Sanctus Hilarius Pictaviensis, In Evangelium Matthaei Commentarius, Caput XVIII

Next when Peter asks whether he should forgive his brother if he sins seven times, He responds, 'Not only seven times but even seventy seven times.' 1 He instructs us to be in every way a likeness of His humility and kindness and to a softening and breaking of the barbs of our wild motions, and He confirms His own placability with example, since through faith is given forgiveness for every sin. It is not the faults of our nature that deserve indulgence. Thus every forgiveness is from Him, when even those things which are in themselves sins, are given pardon after confession. The sevenfold punishment which was established through Cain must be resolved, but that is sin against man, the sin of the murder of his brother Abel. But against Lamech the penalty of seventy seven times was established, and by that we may judge how much punishment would be given to the authors of the passion of the Lord. But the Lord through the confession of the faithful grants pardon for crime, that is, through baptism he gives the grace of salvation to detractors and persecutors. He therefore shows how much more fitting it is for us to offer forgiveness without measure and number, not thinking of how many times we forgive. We should not be angry at those who sin against us, for how many times have we restrained ourselves from being a  cause of anger? Which teaches diligence in forgiveness, that at no time should we be angry, when God grants forgiveness to our faults by his own gift rather than for our merits. Nor is it right, as if by prescription of law, to give a limit to the number of times we should forgive when the grace without measure of the Gospel  has come to us by the favour of God. And in that He has even given us a comparative example of the idea of perfect goodness, in that passage where, the servant having no means to repay, the master forgave all his debt, and yet that same servant extorted from a fellow servant a pittance, and by that vice of his own will he lost the gift of his master's munificence and liberality. 2 Saint Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 18 1 Mt 18 21-22 2 Mt 18 23-35