A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
Jesus said to his disciples: “But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. . . . 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.”
As he addresses the disciples, Jesus tells them that in order to enter the Kingdom of heaven, their righteousness is to surpass that of the scribes and the Pharisees. Jesus refers to the Old Covenant when he tells them, “You shall not kill” and that the result of that is judgment. In telling the disciples to reconcile with their brother before bringing a gift to the altar, he calls them away from the self-imprisonment of unforgiveness to a higher standard of repentance and forgiveness, which comes first from God the Father through Christ.
God, help me understand the prison I make for myself of unforgiveness and failure to reconcile with my brother. You are the just judge, Lord, who knows my heart. You know that my failure to forgive comes from holding on to anger and that reconciliation is a conversion of heart, a freely chosen return to you. Once reconciled, God, give me the grace to know the joy of seeing you in that action. As Saint Paul says in the first reading, “All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
From the Gospel acclamation: “I give you a new commandment: love one another as I have loved you.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.