The following is Ruthann J. Lemonius’s second place essay for the 2017 Friars’ Student Writing Awards contest:

By Google’s definition, reconciliation is “the restoration of friendly relations.” But because of the topic, the second definition seemed more fitting: “the action of making one view or belief compatible with another.”

The following is Sabrina Quartarone’s third place essay for the 2017 Friars’ Student Writing Awards contest:

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died”— 2 Corinthians 5:14. What does this verse mean and how does it relate to Christian reconciliation?

Writing on the theme of reconciliation proved to be an education for some of the entrants to the Friars’ Student Writing Awards — including the winner.