the Pharisees tried that and failed. You may pray as much as they did, but God will not hear you until you have become reconciled. " Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them their trespasses against us," that is the prayer Our Lord Himself taught us. You may go to confession, but what is the use if you hate the man on the other side of the confessional? You may go to communion, but it is an empty ceremony if the man at your side is your enemy. The beautiful custom among the early Christians of exchanging the kiss of peace before receiving, would be sufficient proof, if proof were needed, that to be friends with God we must first be friends with one another. God is not a two-faced go-between, that can equally love and forgive you and your enemy. " Forgive thy neighbor," He says in Holy Writ, " if he hath hurt thee, and then shall thy sins be forgiven thee when thou pray est." And the Holy Ghost adds: "Remember thy last things and let enmity cease." In other words, think of the hour of your death and hasten to be reconciled, for death may come at any moment and usher your unforgiving soul into the presence of God to crave forgiveness for its own sins. As you hope for pardon, therefore, pardon your neighbor; be at peace with him here on earth if you would enjoy hereafter the blessed peace of the kingdom of heaven.
My dear brethren, carry away, I beg of you, and profit by the lesson of to-day's Gospel, which is briefly this: The fifth commandment says: "Thou shalt not kill; " the letter of this commandment is:
