When you come to God, God wants you to be freed from all the anger and bad feelings toward other people. Hard to do, right? Of course it is. There are times when we come to church to receive Holy Eucharist, but there is so much anger inside of us. Perhaps someone just cut you off in the parking lot and took your spot; maybe you even swore at that person. I once witnessed a group of people almost physically fighting for their place in line for confession during a busy Lenten season. Really, you ask. Yes, really. The person was about to confess his sins, yet he just fought over his place in line! Or during this recent pandemic, some people in church looked at each other and judged in their hearts those who don’t cover their faces, or those who do use a mask. I am better than he or she, they might think. When we come to God, we need to be freed from all those bad feelings against our brothers and sisters. Jesus says: “if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.”
