Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/102612.cfm

If you are to go with your opponent before a magistrate,
make an effort to settle the matter on the way;
otherwise your opponent will turn you over to the judge…

I believe the expression is, “settle out of court.” It’s quicker, simpler, less expensive and less painful than dragging a complaint all the way through the system – and the settlement is generally more satisfying.

Boardwalk into the woods
over marshy soil

In today’s gospel, as he often does in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus advises his people to use a little common sense – something which is often in short supply among his starry-eyed disciples. They’re likely to suppose that “Right makes Might!” and “We should fight on because our cause is just!”

Wisdom suggests, “Choose your battles.” Not every right will be won, not every justice is worth fighting for. As long as we live in this world there will be injustice and unfairness. That “peace which the world cannot give” does not come to those who are continually mounting jaded nags, donning barbers’ bowls, arming themselves with broken lances and riding off to do battle with windmills.

Rather, as Saint Paul says in today’s first reading, there are many times when we should

bear with one another through love, and strive to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace.