Growing up I am the oldest of a brother plus two half brothers and two half sisters. My full brother is six years younger than me. I would have to say that as children I picked on him a lot. He also got a few spankings that belonged to me but received because I pointed the finger at him. No one said childhood in a large family was easy or even fair. Looking back now I would say we all love each and have forgotten the injustices of childhood.
Jesus says that If you bring your gifts to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, and go and be reconciled with your brother …! The question for us today is; “who is our brother?” To be a true follower of Jesus Christ we need to treat all people as our brother or sister. If we have anything against then we need to reconcile with then before we receive the Eucharist . If we all did that, we wouldn’t be watching the event we see on the news every night !
It’s not easy to be a disciple of Christ. We know From the Scriptures three things are essential:
To hear the Word of God.
To take up our cross daily.
To go out into the world and live in a way that proclaims Jesus Christ as Lord of all people of all races.
DeColores, Deacon Doug