Called to Reconcile

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Life would be easy if it weren’t for all these people getting in the way. Sometimes it’s at the office: a co-worker decides to store an enormous, half-empty casserole dish in the employee refrigerator and leaves no space for your sack lunch. Or maybe it’s at home, and your spouse neglected to clean the bathroom as promised. Or even on the road: you’re stuck behind a slow-moving car and, when you pass it, you discover the driver is texting.  

These trivial annoyances can be tough to let go. But personal offenses from friends and family members are even more trying. Slights from years ago that went unaddressed but are not forgotten can be deep wounds that fester and poison our hearts.  

Enough, Jesus tells us. Echoing the Lord’s Prayer, he calls us to reconcile with our brothers and sisters. We must settle with our adversaries before being handed over to the judge, an image that calls to mind the final judgment. If we do not settle our disagreements, “we will be thrown into prison” and “will not be released until [we] have paid the last penny.”  

Our grievances must be purged, on earth or in the hereafter. How can we learn to quickly get over petty aggravations and heal from deep wounds? How can we nurture a habit of forgiveness? Only through God. As St. Paul writes, we are transformed by merely gazing “on the glory of the Lord.” T hose we may have once perceived as obstacles, once reconciled, become companions on our journey. We need only welcome God’s light in our hearts. 

J.D. Long García

J. D. Long-García is senior editor at America magazine.