Be Reconciled with Your Adversary Quickly

The Main Idea

The lecture emphasizes that Christ’s command “Be reconciled with your adversary quickly” is a practical call to repentance and reconciliation, especially when the fault comes from the person himself. True reconciliation is a condition for worship and offerings to be accepted before God.

The Spiritual and Educational Dimension

• Pope Shenouda III explains that reconciliation is required when a person is the one at fault, but if the other is at fault, what is required is forgiveness from the heart without compromising the truth.
• A sound conscience is the true judge in determining responsibility, and a person must condemn himself rather than justify himself or blame others.
• Worship is not accepted if it comes from an impure heart; prayer, fasting, and offerings are all connected to the condition of the heart.
• The Church teaches that sin must be treated quickly, because delay may turn sin into a habit and then into a nature that is difficult to escape.
• • Reconciliation is better than litigation, and mutual agreement is better than hostility, whether between individuals or within the Church.
  • The adversary may be a person whom we have wronged, or it may be the conscience or God’s commandment that was broken; in all cases, the remedy is quick repentance.
  • As long as a person is “on the way,” meaning still alive, the door of repentance is open, but after death there is no opportunity for correction.
  • True reconciliation is not limited to a word of apology, but heals the consequences of the wrongdoing and comforts the heart of the one who was hurt.

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