Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
First of all, I must confess that in asking to share a reflection tonight instead of Fr. Satish, I feel like the batboy who has just been called up to pinch-hit for Babe Ruth. Nevertheless, in a similar style, I will have three points upon which to reflect.
For a moment, call to mind the last time you were hurt or offended. What was it that someone said or did to hurt you? How did you respond? Jesus wants to be right in the middle of these situations—quite literally—and offers us practical wisdom on how to handle them. This week, I believe God speaks to us through the scriptures about encounter, changing the weather and harmony.
1. Encounter. “If your brother sins against you,” Jesus says, “go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” Jesus lays out a process to follow when this happens. First of all, have a private conversation with the person who hurt us. We don’t wait for them to apologize. We take the first step. It’s our responsibility to reach out. Isn’t this what God does with us? Offended by our sins, God reaches out, becomes one of us, becomes one with us in Jesus Christ. He doesn’t wait with his arms folded saying, “I’m waiting until they realize what they’ve done.” He sends his only begotten Son to be the face of the Father’s deep Love for all of us. Pope Francis too, in The Joy of the Gospel, dreams of a Church that goes forth, takes the first step, gets involved. The one who is hurt reaches out for a one on one encounter. If that doesn’t work, bring a couple other people into the conversation. If you’re still not successful, bring in the community, the church. And if all else fails “treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.” Jesus wants us to truly meet each other. Appealing to a higher authority is a last resort. Jesus’ way is challenging. More often than talking with the person who hurt me, I find myself talking to someone else about that person or sweeping the situation under the rug. We also know about couples breaking up through text messages or venting their anger in rants on Facebook publicized for the whole world to see. These are ways of going to a higher authority first. They’re ways to remove risk, vulnerability and opportunities for true reconciliation. And if we’re ready to dismiss someone, even after all the steps, Jesus says, “treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.” Jesus ate with these people, loved them, invited them in. He doesn’t let us off the hook, but invites us to the uncomfortable and exhilarating challenge not of confrontations, but authentic encounters.
2. Changing the Weather. God assigned the prophet Ezekiel as watchman “to dissuade the wicked from his way.” Because the Babylonians were coming to destroy Jerusalem, the prophet’s warning was literally the difference between life and death. The choice to speak out, to encounter another with a challenge ripe with tension, makes a significant differene. Our lives will rarely be so dramatic, but we too have the potential to “change the weather” in the way we handle our hurts.
The Marianists have been ministering in Hawai’i for about 130 years, long before it was a popular vacation destination. When the brothers first disembarked in the port in Honolulu, they walked down the street to the Cathedral where a saint was saying Mass—St. Damien of Moloka’i or St. Damien the leper. The north shore of the island of Moloka’i is marked by beautifully rugged and dramatic cliff created after a great earthquake sent much of the island into the sea. Later, a small volcano bubbled up and created a peninsula jutting out, a peninsula known as Kalaupapa, which is now famous around the world. It was to this peninsula where people with Hansen’s disease, formerly referred to as “lepers” were sent in “shipments” from the other Hawaiian islands as the government, out of fear, tried to contain the disease. On Kalaupapa, they were hemmed in by harsh cliffs and relentless waves, trapped ironically in a sort of paradise with the most bitter of sentences—exile, loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted. It was to this peninsula, this leper colony that St. Damien volunteered to go, not just for a time but for his whole life. Though counseled not to touch the lepers, he embraced the first person he met off the boat and gave his life in service to everyone there. In this place, where despair and social chaos reigned and where, as he said, the only thing that grew was the cemetery, he started a band, hospital, orphanage. He formed a community of love. He also planted trees along the coastline, trees that he never saw reach maturity because the disease came to him as well. In a way, Damien’s life on Kalaupapa changed the weather for the people there—transformation, a feeling of being wanted, a reconciliation of sorts with God and with each other. Because he appeared. Those trees too, changed the weather, quite literally. As these pines were planted more and more along the coast and on the island, the winds changed as well and so too the rainfall. Because of the trees planted by Damien and others, the island of Moloka’i now receives more rain than it did before. This, I think, is symbolic of what happens when we follow the counsel of Jesus, when we choose the one on one encounter, when we reach out for reconciliation. We change the weather, perhaps in such slow, small ways that we don’t notice it. Over time, however, we change the weather of our lives and the lives of those around us. In a sense, by living this Christian Way, we become seeds. Today especially, we welcome you Catechumens and Candidates as seeds who will change the weather of this community. Eventually, all of us, by living this way of Love, as Paul says, we can change the weather of our lives and the lives of those around us.
3. Harmony. Jesus says, “where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Jesus wants us to be one and to be present in our midst. He also says, “if two of you agree” in prayer, it will be granted. The word used is “symphonein,” where we get the word “symphony.” A few years ago, I was in New York for the first time with a group of students. We were walking through Central Park and came upon a place called Strawberry Fields in honor of John Lennon, who lived a short walk away. It’s a mosaic of black and white tile on the ground with one simple word in the center: Imagine. Each day, someone sits at this mosaic, arranging roses, carnations, candles and other items in the shape of a peace sign, a heart and other symbols. A few moments after our group arrived, a high school girl’s choir encircled the mosaic, held hands and began to sing, “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Unity, unity, Lord we pray for unity.” In that symbolic circle, they sang in perfect harmony a song calling for unity. This is what Jesus had in mind. He’s not just giving us advice and challenging us to face difficult conversations. The goal is unity, togetherness, oneness, reconciliation—which literally means “to see again face to face” or even “eyelash to eyelash.” This is why we gather around the altar each week for Eucharist. Though the word “imagine” is not etched in the stone, I think this is where Jesus calls to us, “Imagine! Imagine another way to handle hurts! Imagine taking the first step and reaching out in love to reconcile! Imagine how the weather of your world will change! Imagine reconciliation, unity, harmony.” Elsewhere in the scriptures, Jesus says that before we bring our gift to the altar, we’re to go and reconcile with our sister or brother. This is why we reach out to those who have hurt us—to change the weather, to be one, to create harmony in the place of hurt. Next time you’re hurt or offended, how will you respond? As a Marianist, I love the Blessed Virgin Mary and would like to close this reflection with a prayer, asking for her help. Mary our Mother, draw us near to the beating heart of your Son Jesus. Teach us his way and help us to encounter him in each other. Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.
Bro. Brandon Paluch