Be reconciled with your brother

“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.” (Mt 5: 23-24)

We can see in today’s Gospel what is more important for our Lord: our “gift to the altar” or “reconciliation with our brothers” There is no true prayer or true gifts we can bring to the altar where there is no true relationship with our brothers and sisters. It is like being a perfect father/mother for a child but having no relationship with a spouse. Agere sequitur esse—action follows being. When we are reconciled with our brothers, we are closer to God because we are created in His image and likeness, and His mission on earth was to reconcile us with God and each other.

“Cast away from you all the creatures you have committed, says the LORD, and make for yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.” (Gospel Acclamation)