At that time Jesus said to his disciples: I say to you, that unless your justice abound more than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to them of old: Thou shalt not kill. And whosoever shall kill shall be guilty of the judgment. But I say to you, that whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be guilty of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be guilty of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be guilty of hell fire. Therefore if thou offerest thy gift at the altar, and there shalt remember that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and first go to be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. ------------------- {314} Sermon XCIV. Forgiveness Of Injuries. _If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath anything against thee, leave there thy offering before the altar, and go first to be reconciled to thy brother; and then coming, thou shalt offer thy gift._ --Gospel of the Day. There are few things in common life, my dear brethren, more surprising than the fact that some people seem to consider themselves good Christians, and well worthy to receive the sacraments, who have a grudge against some of their neighbors and never speak to them; perhaps never answer, even if spoken to by them. These people seem to think, I say, that they are worthy to receive the sacraments; and this not only at Easter, but, it may be, quite frequently. Some of them, I fear, consider themselves to be pious and devout; they say, it may be, long prayers every night and perhaps also in the morning--though, if they really thought of the words on their lips, I do not know how they could get through one Our Father. "As we forgive those who trespass against us" ought to stick in their throats. They will not speak to those persons who, as they think, have trespassed against them; they wish, then, that God should have nothing to say to themselves. "Forgive us," they say to him, "_as we forgive;_ we will not speak to others, so do not thou speak to us; turn thy back on us, pass us by; that is what we do to our neighbors. {315} Cut us off from thy friendship, send us to hell"; that is what every Our Father means in the mouth of these detestable hypocrites when they say, "Forgive as we forgive."