“Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.”
1. Lectio
Gospel: Matthew 5:20-26
“Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him.”
Jesus’ words are less about winning arguments than about restoring communion. Reconciliation with an offended brother is urged in the admonition concerning leaving one’s gift at the altar and first being reconciled. The severity of the judge in the parable is a warning of the fate of unrepentant sinners before the judgment of God.
2. Meditatio
As I visit my daughter and son-in-law in Scotland, I am vaguely aware that this country is where the Glenn family originated. “Glenn” itself comes from the Scottish word glen, meaning a valley. They came from here to settle in the United States, and that is why our home outside Amarillo bears the name The Glenn.
Curiously, the modern world despises the word settle. I am constantly told to settle for nothing. I am urged to demand everything, upgrade endlessly, and regard contentment as a form of surrender. Yet Our Lord seems to suggest precisely the opposite. He tells me that unless I come to terms with reality—unless I settle with my brother and with the truth—I shall lose, and lose greatly.
Chesterton once observed that the modern man is forever climbing ladders because he has forgotten where home is. Perhaps the great tragedy is not that I settle too much, but that I refuse to settle where God has planted me.
The family that left these Scottish valleys settled in a new land. They accepted limits and hardships. They planted roots rather than towers. They built homes instead of monuments. Perhaps civilization itself depends not upon restless ambition but upon the humble willingness to settle in a place, love its people, and labor faithfully there.
Pope Leo reminds me not to fear getting my hands dirty on the “construction site” of our age. Like Nehemiah, I am to pray, plan wisely, and persevere in the work, placing God at the forefront of my actions and the human person at the center of my choices.
Thus, the rejected stones—the poor, the sick, the migrants, and the least among us—become the cornerstone. A common home emerges where love and fidelity meet and righteousness and peace embrace.
Barnabas understood this. His gift was not domination but encouragement. He was able to settle disputes, reconcile former enemies, and create room for others to flourish. He was not an architect of Babel but a builder of communion.
Perhaps I am called to do likewise in every place where I settle.
3. Oratio
Saint Barnabas, son of encouragement, pray for me.
Teach me not to mistake stubbornness for conviction, nor endless dissatisfaction for greatness.
When pride tempts me to build towers to my own importance, remind me that Christ Himself settled among us and made His dwelling in our midst.
Help me to reconcile quickly with those who oppose me and to seek peace before victory.
Bless the lands from which my ancestors came and the land in which I now dwell. May The Glenn, like every Christian home, become a small reflection of the Father’s house.
Grant me the grace to settle my heart in God, for until I do so I shall remain a wanderer even in familiar places.
Through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
4. Contemplatio (Chestertonian Synthesis incorporating Saint Barnabas)
It is one of the paradoxes of Christianity that the truly adventurous man is often the one who stays put.
The world says, “Never settle.”
The saint says, “Settle first with God, and then discover that every place becomes holy ground.”
Barnabas was not famous for visions like John, nor for theological brilliance like Paul, nor for authority like Peter. His genius lay in making room for others. He settled quarrels. He vouched for Saul when others feared him. He accompanied Mark when Paul had given up on him.
He possessed that rare virtue which Chesterton admired above many others: the ability to rejoice in another man’s greatness.
The builders of Babel sought to make a name for themselves. Barnabas spent his life helping others discover theirs.
And perhaps that is why his name survives. For the man who settles for being a servant often finds that Heaven has settled upon him.
5. Actio
Pope Francis writes in Laudato Si’:
“Here I would state once more that the Church does not presume to settle scientific questions or to replace politics.”
Therefore, today I will resist the temptation to imagine that every disagreement must be won or every question answered by me.
Synodality is not the elimination of differences but the patient art of dwelling together amid them.
I will strive to be, like Saint Barnabas, an encourager rather than a conqueror.
I will seek reconciliation before vindication.
I will remember that the Church’s task is not to replace science or politics, but to illuminate them with the light of the Gospel and to build communion where Babel threatens to divide.
For the Kingdom of God is not built by those who refuse to settle, but by those who have first settled their hearts in Christ and therefore become capable of helping others find their home.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)