Sometimes the Lord wants us to be slow. For example, He commands us to be "slow to speak" and "slow to anger" (Jas 1:19). Nevertheless, we must not be slow to reconcile. The Lord commands us to "lose no time" in settling with our opponents (Mt 5:25). Reconciliation is more urgent even than worship (Mt 5:23-24). If we don't reconcile immediately, we may be handed "over to the torturers" (Mt 18:34) and thrown into a variety of prisons (Mt 5:25). Paul understood this well, so he warned Christians: "The sun must not go down on your wrath; do not give the devil a chance to work on you" (Eph 4:26-27). When it's a matter of reconciliation, there is literally "no time like the present."

Have you forgiven everyone by God's standards? Does any brother or sister in Christ have anything against you? "Go first to be reconciled" (Mt 5:24). If you're a day late or a year late, repent and be reconciled. "Better late than never." Better late than the fires of Gehenna (see Mt 5:22). "We implore you, in Christ's name: be reconciled to God" and to one another now (2 Cor 5:20).

Nihil Obstat:  Reverend Robert L. Hagedorn, January 4, 2001

Imprimatur:  †Most Reverend Carl K. Moeddel, Vicar General and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, January 24, 2001