5th Sunday after Pentecost 27.6.21 Reconciled
When you bring your gift before the altar, and there remember your brother has anything against you… go first to be reconciled to him and then come and offer thy gift (Mt 5,23-24).
We need to bring to Mass the best we can; to bring ourselves with the best possible attitude to what is happening here.
The Mass is the offering of God in His humanity to God in His divinity, God the Son offered to God the Father, on behalf of all humanity.
It is a perfect sacrifice insofar as it is offered by God, who does everything perfectly.
We are joined to that perfect sacrifice when we participate in Mass; but when it comes to our efforts the perfections might diminish very quickly!
Our Lord in offering Himself is willing the complete forgiveness of all sin; the reconciliation of each person and all people to the Father.
Everything He is doing is for the good of others. He is not seeking anything for Himself.
And this is what we are attempting to imitate. We share in His sacrifice with a contrite spirit, wanting complete forgiveness of our own sins, and wanting others to have the same experience.
This latter point we may not be so clear about. We want others to know the mercy of God, even if they are people who have hurt us, or for whatever reason we do not much like.
It can be difficult also for us insofar as we can be too busy to settle ourselves for each Mass, to tune into the great drama enacted at each Mass. We can be hurried, or worried; distracted by a hundred cares, unable to focus.
As far as possible we prepare ourselves. Come early to Mass, if you can.
What does it mean to be reconciled first with our brother? We cannot go around before each Mass and talk to every person where there may be some frostiness in the relationship.
This would be impossible from a practical point of view, as there simply would not be time.
As far as each Mass goes it would be sufficient if we have at least a general goodwill and a generous attitude to others – not begrudging them the fulness of God's mercy.
We understand that God loves the people concerned, even if we do not.
We understand that our positive cooperation with what He is trying to do (namely, reconcile everyone to the Father) is vital to the whole process.
We do not want to spoil the overall effect by bringing any contrary attitudes to the Mass. We want our offering to be as perfect as it needs to be.
Perfect in purity and extent, the whole universe included. As Christians we are supposed to lead the way out the wrong attitudes, not just be dragged in like everyone else.
This is especially the case when we are dealing with another Christian.
What if the other person does not want to be reconciled? We can still pray for him and enable the perfect sacrifice to be transmitted in its effects.
We can help the divine sacrifice to take effect! It needs us. Even the best medicine needs someone else to carry it to where it is needed. That is what we do at Mass.
It is the perfect sacrifice for very imperfect people, but it does a lot of good all the same.
May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands. He will accept the Son, and us too if we are close enough to that Son.
We could say that we need to be reconciled to come to Mass, and that Mass will reconcile us! Both are ongoing processes which require our cooperation, always invoking the grace of God to supply what we cannot.
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