Word to the Wise
Friday, March 18, 2011 - 1st Week of Lent - Fri
[Ezek 18:21-28 and Matt 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.
I give parish missions throughout the year and visit a great variety of parish churches. Some of them are located on sizable pieces of property and have a lot of buildings. With Jesus' admonition in mind about being reconciled before offering one's gift at the altar, I find myself wondering how many buildings would have to be added to those parish campuses with the title on the door: UNOFFERED GIFTS?!
Catholics of a certain age were trained to try to go to confession as close in time as possible before receiving communion. But I don't think this is quite what Jesus has in mind in his statement. He is speaking of the necessity of personal reconciliation with someone from whom we are alienated. This can be much more challenging than going to confession, even if we have been away from that sacrament a long time. I do recommend receiving the sacrament of reconciliation in Lent. But in the parish missions that I preach, I use the gospel passage from Matthew about the unmerciful servant who begs his master for debt relief and having received that relief, refuses to give the same mercy to a fellow servant. Going to the sacrament of reconciliation in Lent without taking steps on a personal level to repair broken relationships seems to me to shortcircuit the very purpose of the sacrament!
Jesus speaks of being reconciled before offering our gift. Perhaps we would not associate reconciliation with the "passing of the basket" at Mass. But we might be able to think of it before getting into the communion line! Could we think of restoring "communion" with someone with whom we are at odds? It could add a new and deeper meaning to what has become unfortunately a somewhat mechanical gesture. If this practice could be multiplied, the "unoffered gifts building" could be put to a better use, and the space reduced to a closet! AMEN
config
view
logs
3840.0 KB
88 ms
4
