A Tip for Our Peace and Happiness (Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time)
Matthew 18:15-20,
Ezekiel 33:7-9,
Romans 13:8-10.
Reflection
Dear sisters and brothers,
This Sunday, we have a meaningful text from the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 18:15-20):
“If your brother sins [against you],
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you,
so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, [amen,] I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”
Once, I was invited by a Christian Business Group to give a Christmas Message.
After I was introduced I started my talk with a question: ‘what do you want in your life?’
Immediately, I continued…
You have a family.
You have a house to stay.
You have variety of food items whenever you want to eat.
You have different stylish clothes to wear.
You have a security of life.
You can survive without much difficulties.
You can go to the best hospitals when you are sick.
Your children study in international schools.
You lack nothing in your life.
Now, you take a moment and give me an answer to my question: ‘what do you want in your life at present keeping in mind all those luxuries that you enjoy?’
There was a total silence in the air-conditioned hall.
No one answered me.
I asked the same question again saying you can say anything that you want.
It might be impossible to say what you want but you can express.
After a meaningful silence, all of them, together, in one voice, answered: ‘we want to be happy in our lives.’
It came as a shock for me.
They were all well to do businessmen and businesswomen.
In spite of all the material wealth they had, they all wanted to be happy, an emotional wealth, that gives peace of mind in their lives.
Dear sisters and brothers,
We have a shelter.
We have food.
We have clothing.
We have a house.
But…
We are not happy.
Why?
Because, the material things cannot make us happy in our lives.
Only, the inner peace and contentment, can give us true happiness.
How do we attain that inner peace?
How do we have happiness?
In spite of Covid-19, the pandemic, we have a reason to be peaceful and happy in our lives and i am going to give a tip for our peace and happiness.
Today, Jesus speaks about it in two themes.
They are:
1. Reconciliation, and
2. Prayer.
Reconciliation and prayer are interlinked.
Reconciliation and prayer are interwoven.
Reconciliation and prayer are together.
We cannot separate them.
One cannot exist without the other.
Now, let us reflect on how they are interlinked and interwoven.
1. Reconciliation:
What is the meaning of ‘reconciliation’?
Reconciliation is reunion.
Reconciliation is reuniting.
Reconciliation is bringing together.
Reconciliation is not alienation.
What do we bring together?
What do we reunite?
What is reunion?
The beauty of these questions, is that it addresses about the final creation of God: ‘the Human’.
Yes,
Dear sisters and brothers,
We bring one another together in reconciliation.
We reunite with the other through reconciliation.
We have reunion in true reconciliation.
We can save our lives when we become a messenger of God’s reconciliation in the world.
We can save our lives by bringing one another together, by reuniting with the other, and by reunion with the nature as we hear (Ezekiel 33:7-9):
“You, son of man—I have appointed you
as a sentinel for the house of Israel;
when you hear a word from my mouth,
you must warn them for me.
When I say to the wicked,
“You wicked, you must die,”
and you do not speak up
to warn the wicked about their ways,
they shall die in their sins,
but I will hold you responsible for their blood.
If, however, you warn the wicked to turn from their ways,
but they do not, then they shall die in their sins,
but you shall save your life.”
We are called by God for the same purpose, to save our lives and the lives of others.
Jesus speaks about three types of reconciliation in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew18:15-20).
They are:
A. Individual Reconciliation,
B. Family Reconciliation, and
C. Community Reconciliation.
I have witnessed all these types of reconciliation in my native culture.
For example,
There are personal or individual issues, where two persons are involved, who quietly come together to talk out their differences and to reconcile with each other.
In other words, we can say that they come to terms with each other.
If they are not able to solve the problem together, they take the issue to the family.
And the family will solve the issue between them.
If the family cannot solve it, it will be taken to the village community.
And the village community, most probably will solve the issue.
If the village community cannot solve it, he/she will be kept away from the community as a punishment.
He/she cannot come to the village or the family and cannot use common properties in the village too.
Now, let us now go in detail each one of them…
A. Individual Reconciliation:
Individual reconciliation has two dimensions.
a. With God, and
b. With the other.
a. With God:
We are sinners.
We are broken.
We are weak.
We make mistakes.
We feel guilt.
We regret.
We need help when we realise that we are sinners, broken, and weak.
Only God can help us.
No one can.
We feel guilty because we have sinned.
We regret because we have broken our relationship with God, the other, and the nature.
We make mistakes because we are weak.
Are we ready to reconcile with God?
b. With the other:
We have pride.
We have ego.
We feel jealous.
We feel superiority.
We feel strong against the weak.
We control them.
We use them.
Then, there is a friction.
Are we ready to reconcile with the other?
Therefore, we need individual reconciliation with God and with the other.
B. Family Reconciliation:
Family is an important social system.
Family is the domestic church.
Everything will be destroyed if the family collapses.
We learn ‘values’ from our family.
We learn ‘faith’ from our family.
In spite of all these, we do not have time for our families.
We spend less time together.
We are busy in social media like Facebook, and twitter and so on.
We are like a machine which goes on non-stop from morning to evening.
There is no quality time.
We rush and run for gathering material riches.
There was a person, who worked in a foreign country for 20 years. He went to foreign land to work soon after his marriage. He did not even come to see his first child. He came home once in five years. He had the second child too. He earned whole day and night for his family. He wanted to give every possible luxury to his family members. He built a beautiful house. He had a car. He had huge fixed deposits in the bank. He was happy even though he was away from his family thinking that he provided everything for his family. After 20 years, he returned home for good with an illness. He came home but his children did not bother about him. They did not even recognise him as their father. His wife behaved like a stranger. He got his food. He got shelter. He got everything except love from his wife and children. There was no peace in his mind and heart. He felt lonely. He felt isolated. He died within a month after his arrival.
We can ask a question: ‘What did he gain all these years through his hard work? What did he profit being away from his loved ones?’
20 years of hard work, made him lonely and isolated from his wife and children for life.
Mother Teresa would often say, “There may not be people who die because of hunger, but there will be more and more people in the world who die out of lack of love and loneliness.”
Lockdown was a blessing in disguise.
Lockdown was a light in a dark room.
Yes,
Dear sisters and brothers,
Families came together.
Families experienced love in an intimate way after a long time.
Wife spent her time with her husband.
Husband spent his time with his wife.
Children spent their time with their parents.
Parents spent their time with their children.
It was a quality time together with each other.
It was a meaningful time with one another.
It brought together the lost love and intimacy in the family.
The reunion of the family was a blessing.
Are we ready to reconcile with our families?
C. Community Reconciliation:
Community is a group of people living together with similar identity.
The Church is a community living together with similar identity of faith in Christ Jesus.
It is the place for final reconciliation.
Here, there are people who are in charge for community or leaders in the community, who come together to solve the issue or the problem of an individual that which affects the community.
There may be a problem of murder.
There may be a problem of stealing.
There may be a problem of domestic violence.
There may be a problem of property issues.
There may be a problem of abuse.
There may be a problem of exploitation.
There may be a problem of marginalisation.
There may be a problem of race.
There may be a problem of hierarchy.
There may be a problem of abuse of power.
There may be a problem of gender issues.
There may be a problem of sexual exploitation.
There may be a problem of inequality.
There may be a problem of cheating.
There may be a problem of corruption.
There may be a problem of uncharity.
There may be a problem of holding.
There are many more issues and problems in our community or in the Church.
The problems can be similar or the problem can be different from place to place and community to community and church to church.
But the problem needs wider consultation, an open dialogue, an open mind, and an open heart.
We can solve many problems when we bring to the community.
It is not for stringent punishment but for reconciliation of heart and mind.
The community come together when we reconcile.
The community is strengthened when we are united.
How do we reconcile in the community?
Are we ready to reconcile in the community or with the community?
If it is ‘yes’, prayer is the solution for all the three types of reconciliations.
2. Prayer:
Jesus says, “Then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”
If you are not able to reconcile even with the help of the community or the church and bring back the lost peace of mind, you are a gentile or a tax collector.
It is a severe punishment for a person.
He/she is removed from the community.
He/she loses his/her identity.
He/she becomes lonely.
He/she is isolated from the community or the church.
What does he/she need?
He/she needs our prayer.
I said earlier three types of reconciliation in my native culture.
As part of the community reconciliation, people who are supposed to reconcile, come in the presence of God together in the Church to pray and acknowledge the reunion.
Prayer can only bring together everyone.
Prayer can reunite one another.
Prayer can bring people in reunion.
Prayer can help to reconcile with God and with the other.
Praying family is a united family.
Praying community becomes the Church.
Jesus prays to the heavenly Father for the same: ‘All of them may be one’ (John 17:21).
God is our stronghold.
God is our fortress.
No one can save us other than the One who has come on this earth to save us.
Christ Jesus is the One, who can save us.
He is the One, who can reconcile us with our Heavenly Father and make us one in Him.
Jesus confirmed this after every healing saying that your sins are forgiven.
It may be an individual sin.
It may be a family sin.
It may be a community sin.
Jesus has reconciled the whole world, the whole humanity by dying on the Cross.
Saint Paul would say (Romans 5:8): “God proves his love for us in this while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”
We can solve many problems in a person, in a family, and in a community, when a person prays, when a family prays, and when a community prays in love of God.
That is the reason, Jesus says: “Again, [amen,] I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”
Our prayer intention must be of reconciliation.
A reconciliation comes when there is love of God and love for one another (Romans 13:8-10):
“Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,”
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying,
[namely] “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
Love does no evil to the neighbour;
hence, love is the fulfilment of the law.”
Reconciliation washes every stain from us when we pray sincerely and intentionally in the community.
The aroma of reconciliation spreads in and through love of God, love of the other, and love of oneself.
Jesus further says: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you lose on earth shall be lost in heaven.”
Let us bind in ‘LOVE’ with God, the other and the nature on earth and in heaven.
Let us lose in ‘SIN’ through the reconciliation on earth and in heaven.
We have the peace of Christ Jesus, when we lose sin in love of God and in love of one another.
In this way, reconciliation and prayer is interlinked and interwoven all the time in our lives as we pray to Christ Jesus in love.
In this way, I become a peaceful and a happy person all the time…
And everything that I have becomes the grace and blessing of God.
I pray: ‘Let the love of God bring peace of mind and happiness in all those who reconcile and pray with one another, with their families and with their communities.’
May the Heart of Jesus live in the hearts of all. Amen…
