Word to the Wise
Thursday, June 11, 2009 - St. Barnabas, apostle
[Acts 11:21B-26, 13:1-3 and Matthew 5:20-26]Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
In my ministry of parish missions and retreats, I never fail to be touched by the need that folks have for reconciliation of all kinds. Humans have so many ways of hurting one another! They all too easily "burn their bridges behind them" in the process, as well. The teaching of Jesus about reconciliation is clear and unequivocal and tells us that if we expect to receive forgiveness from God, we have to forgive others as well. The lines from today's gospel scripture, however, could create an amazing logistics problem at a lot of parish churches and retreat houses! Where would all those "gifts-pending-reconciliation" be kept? And for how long? The idea behind the saying is challenging, indeed! It almost seems to mean that we should not approach the altar if we are estranged from anyone! How many of us can say in good conscience that we are "estrangement-free?" When is the last time that any of us intentionally approached someone with whom we have a difficult relationship and sought reconciliation? Entire families and nations could benefit from considering this matter! To resolve the imaginary logistics problem we might consider the possibility of thinking ahead and repairing the relationship before we set out for the church! AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
73 ms
4
