Reflection on Today's Readings, Wednesday of 19th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1 and the Memorial of St. Clare, August 11th, 2021
Texts: Deut. 34:1-12; Ps. 66: 1-3a.5.8.16-17; Mtt.18:15-20
In today's gospel reading, there are two parts. They look different but the attempt to take them as a whole presents the first part as an antecedent and the other as a consequent. The first part is the work of reconciliation, making peace with brothers and sisters. Jesus shows that we need to explore every possible means to maintain peace with one another. Where there is peace, there is love: love is the root while peace is the shoot. God abides where there is peace. This tells us that reconciliation with one another brings about intimacy with God. Working for better human relationship smoothens the relationship with God. We are called, today, to embrace the works of reconciliation and not to rest until we have explored all the possible means, beginning from private effor followed by witnesses to one's effort to reconcile, and to end with the Church of God, the pillar of truth. Something is also clear in the words of Jesus that there is possibility that the reconciliation ends unsuccessful. In the case that it does not succeed, we take consolation in the fact that we have done all the possible, we have left no stone unturned. Peace is the freedom from grudges, hatred, malice, anger, bitterness, everything that severs relationship.
The second part is the consequent of the first part and it is about prayer and its efficacy. When we engage in reconciliation and secure peace, we will pray and God will hear us and give answers to our prayer. Hence, Jesus says, "Truly, 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." In this word, Jesus speaks of individual being blessed with authority to loose and bind. Let us work for peace that we may have the authority of Christ to loose and bind.
Jesus goes further to tell us what peace achieves for us when we pray together. He says, "Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Peace engenders oneness of heart and mind. When we are one in heart and mind, our prayer becomes effective and powerful, able to move mountain. We are one in heart and mind when our emotion and thought have the same object, that is, when the object of our desire is also the object of our thought at the same time. Heart is the seat of emotions while mind is the seat of thoughts.
Today's first reading says, "And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses wrought in the sight of all Israel." The gospel reading reveals the secret behind the authority of Moses. God accorded him such authority to perform great deeds because he worked to reconcile the people with one another and with God, making peace between the people, and between the people and God. This effort of his is clear in the commandments he gave to the people. The first three commandments focus on maintaining our relationship with God while the rest focus on our relationship with one another. The statutes, ordinances and customs handed down by him also speak volume of his efforts to reconcile the people with God and with one another.
The first reading records the death of Moses. Moses did not enter the promised land. He did not enter the land because of his unbelief in God's word. We could see in this how the mighty falls, the first becomes the last. It was Joshua, his attendant, who led them into the promised land. We will make it to heaven not by the gift or talent we exhibit but by our faith in God’s word. Faith is not a kind of psychological certitude but a kind of commitment to the revealed truth. Let us hold on to God's word, no matter how irrational it may look; the Word of God is true not on account of reason but God.
Lord our God, fill us with the zeal and courage to work for peace, that we may truly be your children and enjoy the authority of Christ, Your Son, to loose and bind. Amen.
Fr. Andrew Olowomuke
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