Reconciliation (Christianity)

In Christian teaching, this is the belief that man's state of enmity with God is replaced by friendship, through God's act of reconciliation through Christ (redemption) and the individual's acceptance of that reconciliation by Baptism and Penance. Reconciliation, whether between God and humanity or between individual human beings, expresses the result of a restored relationship. Practice of reconciliation demonstrates the religious and ethical meaning of forgiveness.