Episode Transcript  

One

Sinful Anger Destroys Relationships

In the Sermon on the Mount, immediately after warning us about sinful anger, Jesus shows us where it leads. Sinful anger, resentment, unforgiveness, and cutting people off destroy friendship. They burn bridges, divide families, separate Christians, and leave us isolated and alone. Left unchecked, anger hardens into hatred. It estranges us from one another, and ultimately from God. In the end, we build our own prison, lock ourselves inside, and throw away the key.

The Kingdom of God is built on friendship, love, forgiveness, and reconciliation. The kingdom of Satan is built on division. We cannot control how another person responds to our efforts at reconciliation. But we can control ourselves. Our responsibility is to do everything we reasonably can to seek forgiveness, restore friendship, and live at peace with others.

Two

Reconciliation Cannot Wait

At Mass we are supposed to bring the gift of our life and offer it to God. That gift is signified by our heart. During Mass, the priest even invites us saying, “Lift up your heart.” And we say, “We lift them up to the Lord.”

In the Sermon on the Mount, while he is teaching about anger, Jesus says something astonishing, “If you are bringing your gift to the altar and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.” Matthew 5:23-24

Think about that. If we take these words of Jesus seriously, He seems to say that if you come to Mass and you remember you are holding something against someone or they against you, you need to first go and be reconciled and then come and offer your gift. Jesus seems to place reconciling relationships before everything else. Why? Because it is a contradiction to come and offer yourself to God when we are angry at others, hold grudges, resent or hate them.

As Scripture says, “We cannot love God whom we can’t see if we hate those we can see.”

Three

The Sign of Peace

Right after we pray the Our Father at Mass, the priest prays, “Peace I leave you, my peace I give you; look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and graciously grant her peace and unity in accordance with your will…” Then he proclaims, “The peace of the Lord be with you always.” And finally, he invites, “Let us offer each other the sign of peace.”

The sign of peace comes immediately after the Our Father in which we pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” And it comes right before we receive Jesus in Communion.

The Sign of Peace is not a polite handshake but a command of love and reconciliation because our communion with Christ is diminished or destroyed by our bad feelings and actions toward others. The sign of peace at Mass is a good time to look your spouse or a son or daughter in the eye and say, I am sorry, please forgive me. Or to say to them, no matter what I love you unconditionally. Other times it points to reconciliation still waiting beyond the church walls.

Either way, the peace of Christ is both gift and mission: we receive it from Him, and we are sent to extend it to others.

Four

Examine Your Relationships

Take a moment and ask the Holy Spirit: Who am I avoiding? Whom have I written off? Where am I holding onto resentment? Is there someone I refuse to forgive? Is there someone who needs to hear, "I'm sorry"?

Most broken relationships are not healed because no one is willing to take the first step. Pride says, “I’ll wait for them to go first.” Humility and Love say, “I’ll go first.” Be the first. That is what Christ did for us.

Five

Go Today

Do not leave this meditation without making the firm decision to take one concrete step. Make the resolution to call, send a text, email or write a letter. Begin the conversation. Ask forgiveness. Offer forgiveness. Pray for the person who has hurt you. As St. Paul says, "Do not let the sun go down on your anger."

The longer anger remains, the deeper its roots grow. The sooner we forgive, the freer our hearts become. Today, ask the Holy Spirit for the courage to take the first step toward reconciliation. That is how Christ loved us. That is how He asks us to love one another.

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