Today is March 14, Friday of the First Week of Lent.
At today’s Mass, we read: “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” (Mt 5:23-34).
Reconciliation is the restoration of a broken relationship. For instance, the Sacrament of Reconciliation restores our relationship with God when it needs mending because of sin. This is the kind of reconciliation we think of during Lent: overcoming sin and growing in our relationship with God. Going to confession is an important practice during Lent!
But this is not the only kind of reconciliation we need to consider during these forty days. Jesus tells us in the Gospel today that we must also mend our relationships with one another. So important is this human reconciliation that our gifts to God are tainted when we still need to forgive and ask forgiveness of others.
A heart of peace and joy
The Catechism says that the family is the first place where we learn to reconcile with others: “Here one learns endurance and the joy of work, fraternal love, generous–even repeated–forgiveness” (1657). As most of us know, the family can also be the hardest place to learn the lesson! But the Church encourages us to seek reconciliation within our families: “Each and everyone should be generous and tireless in forgiving one another for offenses, quarrels, injustices, and neglect. Mutual affection suggests this. The charity of Christ demands it” (2227).
While there are many people who we consider our brothers and many relationships we should mend, perhaps the most important restoration that needs to happen is within our families. This Lent, ask God for any needed reconciliation within your family, even if only in your own heart. With this tension released within you, you can then offer your gift at the altar with a heart of peace and joy.
Let us pray,
Grant that your faithful, O Lord, we pray, may be so conformed to the paschal observances, that the bodily discipline now solemnly begun may bear fruit in the souls of all. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.
