There’s a woman I know—works full-time, three kids, never late with a casserole when someone’s in need. The kind of person people call “a saint,” mostly because she’s always smiling.

Last year, someone in her family hurt her deeply. I won’t go into the details. But it was the kind of thing you could reasonably hold a grudge over for the rest of your life.

She didn’t want to talk to him.

After what he said, how casually he said it, and who he said it to, it didn’t feel repairable. She stayed polite in group settings and was civil, but she kept her distance if possible.

For almost a year, it stayed that way. She tried to just carry on, be polite and stay above it—to keep the peace, at least on the outside.

Eventually, she realized it wasn’t enough to not lash out. She needed to have the uncomfortable, shaky-voiced conversation to allow her healing.

So one afternoon, driving home from work, she pulled over and called him.They both fumbled through the call with long pauses and some tears and in fact, nothing resolved, exactly.

But it was an honest conversation and that changed something in both of them. It made room for repair.

In this week’s Gospel, Jesus says faithfulness isn’t purely avoiding the wrong things but also going toward the right things, even when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, uncertain.

Care less about what looks holy from the outside, and more about what is whole from the inside.

The real mark of a transformed heart is how it reconciles, not perfectly, just willingly.

Is there someone you’ve been avoiding? Maybe it’s time to pray honestly about why you haven’t. Either way, don’t rush past the tension. Let it be a place where grace can begin to do its work.

God Bless.
FF