A BETTER SACRIFICE
Friday in the 1st Week of Lent
Mt 5:20-26
Jesus says today, “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.” Do you notice anything particular with the admonition of the Lord to us?
While the subject of the Lord’s sentence is “you”, the important reference it makes is “your brother”. The Lord, very clearly, does not say, “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that YOU have anything against your brother, leave your gift to the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” We often overlook this nuance in the Lord’s words.
The Lord’s words beg the question: “Does my brother have anything against me?” They do not ask the question: “Do I have anything against my brother?” That my brother has anything against me is enough to make me unworthy to offer my gift. If we bear this in mind always, we would be extra careful not to give our brethren any reason to have anything against us. We would be more loving of one another even as we are already very loving of God.
It is always the case that we remember the hurts others inflict on us but we forget the hurts we inflict on them. We hardly forget the transgressions of others against us but we easily commit to oblivion our sins against them. We are rather fast in pointing an accusing finger on others but we are quite slow in striking our breast to confess, “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” (“my sin, my sin, my greatest sin”). If we are quick in offering our gifts to God but are dawdling in offering the hand of reconciliation to others, then we are guilty of hypocrisy and our offering redounds to no good.
Sacrifice is one of the three essential components of Lent. This holy season should teach us that the best sacrifice we can offer to God is the offering of reconciliation with those we have wronged and those who have wronged us. That is what I mean when I sound like a broken record in saying that Lent is not about sacrificing more but about sacrificing better.
Mt 5:20-26
Jesus says today, “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.” Do you notice anything particular with the admonition of the Lord to us?
While the subject of the Lord’s sentence is “you”, the important reference it makes is “your brother”. The Lord, very clearly, does not say, “Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that YOU have anything against your brother, leave your gift to the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” We often overlook this nuance in the Lord’s words.
The Lord’s words beg the question: “Does my brother have anything against me?” They do not ask the question: “Do I have anything against my brother?” That my brother has anything against me is enough to make me unworthy to offer my gift. If we bear this in mind always, we would be extra careful not to give our brethren any reason to have anything against us. We would be more loving of one another even as we are already very loving of God.
It is always the case that we remember the hurts others inflict on us but we forget the hurts we inflict on them. We hardly forget the transgressions of others against us but we easily commit to oblivion our sins against them. We are rather fast in pointing an accusing finger on others but we are quite slow in striking our breast to confess, “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” (“my sin, my sin, my greatest sin”). If we are quick in offering our gifts to God but are dawdling in offering the hand of reconciliation to others, then we are guilty of hypocrisy and our offering redounds to no good.
Sacrifice is one of the three essential components of Lent. This holy season should teach us that the best sacrifice we can offer to God is the offering of reconciliation with those we have wronged and those who have wronged us. That is what I mean when I sound like a broken record in saying that Lent is not about sacrificing more but about sacrificing better.
posted by Fr. Bobby @ 4:00 PM
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