Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court.
Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison.
When he was asked, "Which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Jesus gave a two-fold response in three parts:
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment.The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
In his First Letter, Saint John reflected on the Lord's second commandment: "Whoever says he is in the light, yet hates his brother, is still in the darkness."
I suppose everyone who has visited a church with an open mind and heart came away with a nice feeling of being loved, comforted, and mysteriously satisfied. That good feeling was almost immediately embellished with complacency: "I am okay in God's sight!"
And then, to her raised eyebrows, he said, "I always react that way in the presence of a gorgeous woman."
"How fortunate for you." she said.
How fortunate for you that you feel good about yourself for having been to a church. But that good feeling means nothing in God's sight; and fails to impress anyone else, especially if you despise a brother or sister in the Lord.
"Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court." Jesus tells us. Our faith and our religious practice must often -- seven times a day! -- remind us of the contempt we have toward others. We are certainly not shining like the sun on the just and unjust, nor blessing others like the gentle rain which falls on good and bad alike.
It is good to visit a church; and better to attend Mass, and excellent to receive His Most Precious Body and Blood. But our response for these blessings must be humble gratitude. We might remember the Fisherman's immediate reaction, "Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man." If the Lord didn't go away from him, it was nonetheless the gut reaction of an honest man who knew his own worth.
And then, as penitents who have deserved nothing but received everything, we follow him.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.