20160810 RETAINING THE GLORY OF THE TEMPLE OF GOD
Eze
9:1-7, 10:18-22
Then he
shouted loudly for me to hear, 'The scourges of the city are approaching, each
carrying his weapon of destruction!'
2
Immediately six men advanced from the upper north gate, each holding a deadly
weapon. Among them was a man
dressed in linen, with a scribe's ink-horn in his belt. They came in and halted
in front of the bronze altar.
3 The glory
of the God
of Israel rose from above the winged creature where it had been, towards the
threshold of the Temple. He called to the man
dressed in linen with a scribe's ink-horn in his belt
4 and Yahweh
said to him, 'Go all through the city, all through Jerusalem, and mark a cross on the foreheads
of all who grieve and lament over all the loathsome practices in it.'
5 I
heard him say to the others, 'Follow him through the city and strike. Not one
glance of pity; show no mercy;
6 old
men, young men, girls, children, women, kill and exterminate them all. But do
not touch anyone with a cross on his forehead. Begin at my sanctuary.' So they
began with the old men who were in the Temple.
7 He said to them, 'Defile the Temple; fill the courts with
corpses; then go out!' They went out and hacked their way through the city.
19
These raised their wings and rose from the ground as I watched, and the wheels
were beside them. They paused at the entrance to the east gate of the Temple
of Yahweh, with the glory
of the God
of Israel over them, above.
20 This
was the winged creature I had seen beneath the God
of Israel by the River Chebar; I knew that they were winged creatures.
21 Each
had four faces and four wings and what seemed to be human hands under their
wings.
22 Their faces were like those I had seen by the River Chebar.
Each one moved straight forward.
Gospel Matthew 18:15-20
15 'If
your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between
your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.
16 If
he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: whatever the
misdemeanour, the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain the
charge.
17 But
if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses
to listen to the community, treat him like a gentile or a tax collector.
18 'In truth
I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will
be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will
be loosed in heaven.
19 'In truth
I tell you once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will
be granted to you by my Father in heaven.
20 For
where two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.'
RETAINING
THE GLORY OF THE TEMPLE OF GOD
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [
EZ 9:1-7, 10:18-22; MT 18:15-20 ]
In the first reading, we
read of the glory of God leaving the Temple of Jerusalem. This was
because the People of God were no longer faithful to the Covenant. God
instead sent His angels to punish the People of God and to purify the Temple of
God. We too are called to be the Temple of God. (cf 1 Cor 6:19
) The Church is more than a building but the
Assembly of God. We are called to be the Sacrament, the sign of God’s
presence in the world by radiating the glory and the splendor by the works of
love, mercy and unity. These are the things that truly adorn the Temple
of the Living God; not the edifice and external structures.
) The Church is more than a building but the
Assembly of God. We are called to be the Sacrament, the sign of God’s
presence in the world by radiating the glory and the splendor by the works of
love, mercy and unity. These are the things that truly adorn the Temple
of the Living God; not the edifice and external structures.
What destroys the beauty of
God is always sin, especially the sin of division. This is what the
gospel is warning us. Whilst it is true that we are all sinners and the
Christian community is not perfect, yet when misunderstandings and quarrels
happen within the community, it affects the image of the Church and the members
of the community. In every Christian community, we can expect that there
will be tensions and frictions. But when such differences are not
properly dealt with, the repercussions can be great and extensive. How
then should we deal with conflicts within the community?
In most cases, what people
do is to straight away complain to the authorities. They will write to
the archbishop or even to Rome to complain about a priest or another lay
person. Such a procedure does not solve the problem but only creates more
problems. When a case is brought to the highest authorities, and there
are so many, we cannot expect the bishop or the head of any community, like the
Prime Minister, to personally deal with every complaint. It would have to
be relegated to someone else to do the investigation. Furthermore, once
it is brought to the attention of the authorities, a juridical judgment has to
be made. It will not be a win-win situation but a win or lose situation.
Whoever loses the case will not be happy and will deem the judgement to be
flawed. No one is pleased with the judgement at the end. Most of
all, instead of achieving reconciliation, there will be greater rancor and
anger. For this reason, Jesus advises us to bring matters to the
authorities for resolution only as a last recourse; never as the first course
of action.
What should be done is to
bring the situation to the person concerned in a brotherly or sisterly manner,
seeking to understand where the other person is coming from. Again, the
greatest mistake is that besides writing to the highest authority of the
community instead of seeing each other personally to talk it out, they write
nasty emails and letters. Such impersonal means of communication only
cause more misunderstanding and misinterpretations. It should not just be
about judgement of a logical nature but trying to feel with and for each
other. Hopefully, through mutual understanding and Christian charity for
each other, an amicable solution could be found.
When that fails, the gospel
advises us to “take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or
three witnesses is required to sustain any charge.” Again, this is not
yet a juridical process but seeking to find some wise men who could mediate the
conflict. Sometimes we are so hurt that we can no longer be objective or
willing to face the person who has hurt us, much less to dialogue with him or
her. In this instance, finding some good and objective people could help
to mediate the dialogue and bring to a happy and satisfying solution through
clarification of the misunderstanding and arriving at an amicable
solution. Only when that fails, should the problem be escalated to a
higher authority. And when that fails, only then does the case escalate
to the highest authority, whose job it is to then to call for an independent panel
to investigate, make a judgment and resolve the conflict.
Yet, this is not always the
best because even when judgment is made, the decision is not always accepted by
all the parties, especially the party that is judged to be wrong. The truth is
that some of us would not accept any judgement unless the judgement is in our
favour. Unless we can abide by the decision of the legitimate
authorities, there will be no end to the conflict. Everyone has their
opinion of things. There are many who say that they are obedient to God
so long as everyone is obedient to them, including the authorities. I
have many who tell me that they only give obedience to God, and if the bishop
does not agree with them or obey them, it is because the bishop is wrong, even
though such authority has been given to the Church, “I tell you solemnly,
whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you
loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.”!
In truth, if a conflict
were to be resolved, it must be done within a fraternal Christian spirit of
compassion and forgiveness in sincere prayer. Any conflict must be
accompanied by fervent prayer by the individuals concerned and as a
community. Without prayer and humility, we cannot exercise Christian charity
and forgiveness. Only in prayer, can we come to realize our own mistakes
and inadequacies. When no one claims to have erred in some ways on their
side, it is very difficult to proceed further. I find that in most cases
the injured party always thinks that the injuring party is to be blamed for
everything. This cannot be true because it takes two hands to clap.
Even in a failed relationship both sides must reckon their own part of the
problem. Hence, no reconciliation and mediation is possible without
prayer and the desire to heal and be reconciled. If the attitude is one
of revenge and to inflict pain on the other party, the situation will only get
worse.
We need to pray for
discernment and also for forgiveness of our enemies. But most of all, we
need to pray as a community for healing and forgiveness. This is what the
Lord assures us, “I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree
to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. For
where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.” Only
when prayers are made with a common mind for a common good, will that prayer be
answered. God does not answer a selfish and self-centered prayer even if
100 people agree on that petition. To meet in His name and to pray
in His name, having the mind and heart of Christ is the only assurance for all
prayers to be answered.
Finally, when all mediation
fails, we must never give up hope. The instruction given to the community
of St Matthew that “if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a
pagan or a tax collector” must be understood within context. Christ
Himself never gave up on anyone, not even the most incorrigible sinner. So, as
Christians, we must never give up hope of reconciliation or the conversion of
someone or of our enemies. To treat them as pagans is to recognize that
they are ignorant or are sinners. It does not mean that we cut them off
completely. Rather, through prayer and time, they might one day find the
grace for conversion.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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