“If therefore thou offer thy gift at the altar, and there thou remember that thy brother hath any thing 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. Be at agreement with thy adversary betimes, whilst thou art in the way with him: lest perhaps the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Amen I say to thee, thou shalt not go out from thence till thou repay the last farthing.”
As hatred is the opposite of love, a total absence, the Lord detests it, and here tells His people to soothe anger before it manifests into hate. So important is His merciful love expressed through His people, that He bids concord between them before coming to Him. He ran to you with open arms and a loving heart, that you may know His love while you were far from Him, and He bids you the same when you are distanced from someone. This arises either through a wrong done to you, and to seek reconciliation here is to imitate Christ in the extension of mercy, and through a wrong you have done to someone else, in which case you reforge the love that should exist between yourself and others, “If it be possible, as much as is in you, have peace with all men” (Romans 12:18). Here it is beautiful to consider that when you sense an object and enjoy it, the image of the Trinity is manifest, for you are the subject that loves, the object is the thing beloved, and the love that emanates is love itself, even if it is the lowest love of enjoyment. In this you are an image of the Father, the object is that of the Son, and the enjoyment is of the Holy Spirit. Look at what all God has created, and realize that they are good and beautiful, allowing your mind to be lead to the Trinity at all times. Now, why should this imprint of the Trinity, so prevalent in all things, be between you and simple things and not between you and another child of God? When love is not present between two people, the image of the Trinity is broken, thus removing someone from appropriate Trinitarian worship. This is why the sign of peace in the Mass is so necessary, that what is broken may be healed with a bidding of peace, and the image of the Trinity, the God of love, may permeate the entire church before descending into the souls of the people in Holy Communion. If the person isn’t present, won’t forgive, etc., reconcile yourself to God in your heart, that at least in your world, the Trinity may be expressed between you and all things, even if on the other end God is absent. There is a three-fold reconciliation that is called for in the way of life, for you were an enemy of God when you were wrapped in sin: “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10), an enemy of the commandments of God when they opposed your sins, but can now find in them delight, for they light your path: “The judgements of the Lord are true, justified in themselves. More to be desired than gold and many precious stones: and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb” (Psalm 18:10-11), and finally an enemy of your neighbor, either by sinning against them or by circumstance. That hate may not be a blot on the beauty of either of your souls, Jesus calls you to be at peace with each other, that love may be victorious over the feud that once existed. Paying the last farthing shows that all things contrary to love will be accounted for and need to be overcome with love. To the one that never comes to the Lord, this is an unpayable debt: “but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink” (Psalm 74:9), but to you is a call to let love purge away all that remains of what used to be: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). Because “love covereth a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8), by loving at all times and confessing where it was in any way absent, you will let Love Incarnate pay your debt in full, for those who love need not consider purgatory.