There has always been violence in the world. It has been estimated that 3180 out of 3357 years, have been years of war. From the year 496 to 1860, there were only 227 years of peace. The ratio has been 18 years of war to one year of peace. Today there’s more wars; no doubt sophisticated and more fatalities but, there is something different about the violence of our day: It is the silent violence accomplished using the law to our own advantage. The late Catholic Archbishop Fulton Sheen reckoned that this is because humans have despaired for losing their God-given purpose. Case in point: When we have more enthusiasm in being anti-something, more than we cultivates good moral values, good virtues in ourselves, this can be distracting because violence is not the only ill in our society! There are more unfortunately. The trouble is that, without God, all the paths we take lands us back in to the same troubles we were avoiding in the first place. I call this a loop of self-misguidance. In today’s Gospel message, Jesus leads us back to the original purpose that Israel had lost: The loop of Grace. Israelites were meant to be a blessing to other nations! They were given a choice: To love God & His ways and live (experiencing the loop of Grace), or do their own thing and perish (experiencing the loop of misguidance). They forgot those words in Deuteronomy 30:15-20 and resorted to their own ways, and brought abuses in the Temple. They wanted to maintain their privileged position, which is a behavior we see a lot in World History: full of power grabbing, revolutions, political coups; terrors and deaths. But what’s so surprising is that in the midst of all those storms, the church thrives, people grow spiritually, because God is at work. This is Good News!
We are called to gather together like in Noah’s ark. Outside the Ark is scary; dark and you can drown because the storms causes the waters to be rough. The parish is our God-given safety, a place where we experience the loop of Grace! We pass on the love & grace we have received. We honor God, follow Jesus, we love and forgive each other; our children learn God’s ways, they are taught to walk courageously by faith in a world whose ways and values are opposite God’s ways. It is as if we were like Israelites (at the Red Sea) at a point where their Egyptian pursuers were galloping at an amazing speed while they wait for God to act to save them, wondering when God is going to save them! The thing is, God has opened this door to His Ark, the command is: Come in! Go forward with a heroic faith, serve the Lord with all your heart, mind and strength. Be a prayer warrior at heart!
Jesus words to us today are timely, for me at least. Instead of focusing on what’s wrong outside God’s Ark, we should focus on shaping up ourselves! Jesus says: [Before you go to the altar, and remember that things are not right with your brother or sister, go in first and be reconciled.] This is heroic faith in the choices we make for the sake of God’s Kingdom! We might not enjoy saying sorry because of our pride, but it must be done for the sake of the overall life in the Kingdom of God. You see, in Israel, there were 3 capital punishment: beheading, stoning and burning. Sounds dreadful! We have good reason to be afraid of murder, yet here, Jesus is telling us that we should be even more afraid of the thoughts that can lead to murder (or to other kinds of sins). Cain’s killing of his brother Abel began in anger, uncontrollable anger. This is why we should be quick to seek peace, begging forgiveness; otherwise, we would be utterly unfit for communion with God, says God’s word. That’s Christian community: We love and forgive each other, more times than we can count! Beginning with you, married couples, you are the very example of God’s covenant with His people, the Church. Not only your children are watching you, but also your children's children to learn from you! Give an example worthy of the Lord in how He loved the Church!
I now totally understand why Paul told Corinthians that they were still people of the flesh; infants in Christ! Paul saw that Corinthians had still a long way to become spiritual people, to understand the need to fight spiritual battles and how to. Remember, we are a new creation in Christ! We should no longer be behaving according to our human inclinations, including being involved in stupid arguments & quarrels, which unfortunately happens way more than we care to admit. It only serves to distract us from our real purpose which is, to become one with Christ!
Enjoy life in God’s Ark (In your parish)! Love always like Christ loved, and love some more! Don’t be angry too long! Guard your heart, and your thoughts! Be sure to pass on God’s love and grace to others because it’s in God’s Ark that we find abundantly the loop of Grace.
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