Reconciliation must be sought before the Day of Judgment
Christ warns us not to delay reconciliation with God or neighbour, lest we face divine justice on the last day.
Christ warns us not to delay reconciliation with God or neighbour, lest we face divine justice on the last day.
Editor’s Notes
In this section, Fr. Coleridge tells us…
How divine justices requires us to seek reconciliation with all who could accuse us on the last day
That the neglect of duties, even small or forgotten ones, can become spiritual liabilities
Why it is that Christ warns us of imprisonment until the “last farthing” is paid.
For more context on this section, and its place in the Gospel and the Liturgy, see the previous part.
See also here:
The Gospel Law as to Anger
The Sermon on the Mount (To the End of the Lord’s Prayer)
Chapter V
St Matt. vi. 20-30
Story of the Gospels, § 32
Burns and Oates, London, 1878
‘Making peace with our adversary’
The doctrine which has now been laid down as to the instant reconciliation with our brother, even at the cost of a delay in some sacrifice offered to God, leads naturally to a more general precept, on which our Lord also insists with great emphasis, using, as is frequent with Him, the motive of holy fear to enforce His teaching.
This general doctrine relates to quickness and thoroughness in getting rid at once of any obligation that may lie upon our conscience, whether in regard of charity or of any other virtue. Our Lord puts the precept in a sort of parable, drawn from the circumstances of ordinary litigation.
‘Be on good terms with thine adversary (in a suit) quickly, while as yet thou art in the way with him, lest perchance the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into the prison. Amen, I say to thee, thou shalt not go forth thence until thou hast paid the last farthing.’
As long as two suitors have not yet entered the court, they may make the matter up between themselves on friendly terms, and by some fair compromise, which will leave each comparatively unhurt. But when the cause is once in court, there is no longer the opportunity for compromise, and justice must be executed in all its rigour. The adversary delivers the culprit to the judge, the judge hands him over to the officer of justice, and he must remain in prison, if condemned, until the full debt is paid.
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