20240814 RECONCILIATION IN THE SPIRIT
14 August 2024, Wednesday, 19th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading |
Ezekiel 9:1-7,10:18-22 |
The cross marks the foreheads of all who are pure
As I, Ezekiel, listened, God shouted, ‘Come here, you scourges of the city, and bring your weapons of destruction.’ Immediately six men advanced from the upper north gate, each holding a deadly weapon. In the middle of them was a man in white, with a scribe’s ink horn in his belt. They came in and halted in front of the bronze altar. The glory of the God of Israel rose off the cherubs where it had been and went up to the threshold of the Temple. He called the man in white with a scribe’s ink horn in his belt and said, ‘Go all through the city, all through Jerusalem, and mark a cross on the foreheads of all who deplore and disapprove of all the filth practised in it.’ I heard him say to the others, ‘Follow him through the city, and strike. Show neither pity nor mercy; old men, young men, virgins, 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 in front of the Temple. He said to them, ‘Defile the Temple; fill the courts with corpses, and go.’ They went out and hacked their way through the city.
The glory of the Lord came out from the Temple threshold and paused over the cherubs. The cherubs spread their wings and rose from the ground to leave, and as I watched the wheels rose with them. They paused at the entrance to the east gate of the Temple of the Lord, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered over them. This was the creature that I had seen supporting the God of Israel beside the river Chebar, and I was now certain that these were cherubs. Each had four faces and four wings and what seemed to be human hands under their wings. Their faces were just as I had seen them beside the river Chebar. Each moved straight forward.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 112(113):1-6 |
Above the heavens is the glory of the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Praise, O servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!
May the name of the Lord be blessed
both now and for evermore!
Above the heavens is the glory of the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
From the rising of the sun to its setting
praised be the name of the Lord!
High above all nations is the Lord,
above the heavens his glory.
Above the heavens is the glory of the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Who is like the Lord, our God,
who has risen on high to his throne
yet stoops from the heights to look down,
to look down upon heaven and earth?
Above the heavens is the glory of the Lord.
or
Alleluia!
Gospel Acclamation | Ps110:7,8 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Your precepts, O Lord, are all of them sure;
they stand firm for ever and ever.
Alleluia!
Or: | 2Co5:19 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,
and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 18:15-20 |
If your brother listens to you, you have won back your brother
Jesus said to his disciples: ‘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. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. 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 pagan or a tax collector.
‘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.
‘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.’
RECONCILIATION IN THE SPIRIT
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [EZEKIEL 9:1-7, 10:18-22; MATTHEW 18:15-20]
In any community, there are bound to have differences, misunderstandings, and quarrels, which result in hurt and a breach of relationship. The Christian community is not exempted from the consequences of Adam’s. We have pride, our diverse backgrounds and upbringing, different levels of intellectual capacity, experiences in life which colour the way we look at things. As a result, there will be disagreements in whatever we do. Often, this leads to harbouring of hurts and grievances.
Whilst it is said that forgiveness is difficult, I think it is not as difficult as reconciliation. Many find it difficult to forgive from their hearts, but we can at least forgive our enemies even though they do not want to receive it. We are at peace with ourselves, our conscience is clear. We cannot impose forgiveness on those who do not think they need our forgiveness. St Paul said, we should not be premature in our judgement of others, even of ourselves, because we do not know the hidden motives of what we do. Only God can reveal to us our deepest hidden motives for all we do on earth. (cf 1 Cor 4:4f)
I believe it is even more daunting is to seek reconciliation, especially with those who are so deeply hurt they do not want to be reconciled. In the first place, to bring about reconciliation with someone who has hurt us, or been hurt by us, is difficult. When one or both parties are hurt, it is difficult to remain objective, calm and clinical in examining the cause of the conflict or misunderstanding. We tend to be subjective and prejudicial in our judgment because we see the situation with a wounded heart. We are also defensive. This situation is sometimes made worse by gossip that is not factually accurate.
So, how do we reconcile an errant brother or sister, or with someone who has hurt us, or feels that we have hurt him? The gospel today offers us some guidelines. Contextually, the procedures take into account the teachings of Jesus and established guidelines of communities which were instituted by the early Church to resolve differences between their members. We must not think that there were no differences, quarrels, and scandals in the early Church. The letters of St Paul lament the persecutions he faced within his own Jewish community and opposition from some leaders of the Christian communities. Clearly, the letters of St Paul describe his struggles and the pain he felt when he was betrayed by his own fellow Christians.
What, then, are the guidelines in the gospel? First, we are told “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.” This is indeed good advice for problems and misunderstandings that cannot be resolved by letter or emails. But most people are afraid to confront or even dialogue with people they are not happy with. More so today, people who are not capable of dialoguing and have poor interpersonal skills would resort to writing anonymous emails to vent their grievances. When asked to meet up, they refuse because they are afraid to dialogue.
Even if both agree to come together, they may end up shouting at each other, unless they have the right spirit. Because both parties are hurt, this becomes an occasion for them to vent their frustrations and pains. Unless properly managed, emotions can get out of control, leading to further damages. Such dialogue presupposes that both parties sincerely want to understand and hear each other out, holding back judgment so that they can come to some mutual understanding of each other’s struggles and the situation they are in. Only then can healing and reconciliation take place. This requires maturity.
That being the case, we need to follow the second guideline given in the gospel. “If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge.” In other words, if the situation does not permit two persons to come together in Christian maturity to dialogue, then we need mediators to help them to communicate in a civil, respectful, and objective manner. These mediators must be people that both parties have confidence in, and they must possess maturity of mind and heart. They must be able to present concrete evidence, objectively. Otherwise, they can cause more conflicts when they take sides, instead of helping both parties to listen intently to each other and come to understand the situation objectively, so that they could better appreciate the hurts and circumstances the other party faces. What if one party refuses a mediator, or refuses to respect the rules of courtesy in the process? The dialogue will of course fail.
When both attempts have been exhausted and there is no resolution, it must be escalated to the authorities to save the community from further fracture. “But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community. ‘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.'” This must be the last resort, and should not be used unless the situation could cause a scandal to the community if no action is taken. Because once it is escalated to the authority, any action would be a juridical decision involving judgment and penalty. A decision by authority does not mean we have won over the differing parties. Often, it only causes a rift that leads either to excommunication, or the person who feels unfairly treated will leave the community on his own accord. We fail to save the person. We would have lost the opportunity.
When the Lord said, “if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector”, He did not mean we simply cut him off. On the contrary, Jesus was always merciful to the tax-collectors. He ate and drank with sinners and tax-collectors. He said that His Father sends down rain on good and bad alike. We must leave the door open for the person to return to the Father’s house. No door is closed to anyone who repents. We need to pray for the person to have the grace of humility and repentance.
The secret is to begin and end this process in prayer, rather than letting it end in a juridical trial, or a professional study. A Christian community cannot resolve problems as in the world, by the standards of the world. We need to employ the synodal process of listening attentively to each other in prayer and in the Spirit. This is why the Lord said, “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.” We must bring the Lord into this entire process of reconciliation by listening and feeling with each other in humility and sincerity. The process is not to determine who is right or wrong, but how best to handle the situation amicably for the good of the two parties and the entire community. Rather than go through a trial, we should journey with each other in a spirit of attentive and empathetic listening, hearing the Word of God in charity.
However, this reconciliation in the Spirit can only work if the parties concerned are faith-filled and willing to listen to the Spirit in prayer. Otherwise, the ways of the world and the way of legal justice will dictate how they treat each other. If they are not convinced about prayer and listening to the Spirit, the whole process would be compromised. We need faith and humility. If we truly love the Lord, then we will, like the apostles, who also had their differences, allow our common love for the Lord to bring us together for His glory.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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