Come, Offer, Turn and Live

Friday of the First Week of Lent

Matthew 5:20-26

So when you are offering your gift at the altar,

if you remember that your brother or sister

has something against you,

leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister,

and then come and offer your gift

Communion Antiphon Ezekiel 33:11

As I live, says the Lord God,

I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,

but that the wicked turn from their ways and live

There are two parts of this cycle that I need to attend to lest unforgiveness grows and multiplies in me…endlessly paying itself forward without my notice. 

The first is my commitment to personal reflection.  Without it I have only my adeptness at justifying my own actions to rely on, a practice to which we human beings are genetically predisposed;)

The second is my attentiveness to my own stubbornness.  How often do I hold onto hurt remaining blind to the efforts of others to reconcile and move forward? The other has offered his gift.  It takes my openness to receiving to complete the cycle. 

And that is something worth paying forward…endlessly.