The Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Dear brothers and sisters,
We here at St. Augustine’s are a small parish. This is no great secret. Being small in numbers does not necessarily equate to insignificant, nor does it equate to a lack of faith. The Lord Jesus himself promises that “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). We have come together this morning to be with the Lord Jesus who gives himself to us under the sacramental signs of bread and wine in order that we might “love one another;” we have to come together to receive the sacramentum caritatis, the sacrament of love, which Love himself gives to us (Romans 13:8; cf. I John 4:8).
The Lord Jesus speaks this promise to be with those who gather in his name in reference to the prayer of a community, however small. It is an indication of the importance and necessity of the community of the faith if we are to grow in love. From this, we see that
personal prayer is of course important, indeed indispensable, but the Lord guarantees his presence to the community — even if it is very small — which is united and in agreement, because this reflects the very reality of the Triune God, perfect communion of love.[1]
Jesus guarantees his presence in the community in a way he does not guarantee it to individuals.
This perfect communion of love can often best be achieved in small parishes. Because we are able to know one another, we are better able to be involved in one another’s lives, to look after one another, to correct one another, and to carry one another’s burdens. This is no small blessing.
The small size of this parish makes it easy for us to think of ourselves as a family founded in the love of Christ Jesus that has been given to us in Baptism. When the saving waters cleansed us of the original sin of our first parents, you and I were adopted into the household of God and brought into the family of God, becoming his adopted sons and daughters.[2]
However, as with all families, there can arise discontentment, frustrations, and even failures to love. This is hinted at in today’s Psalm when it sings, “Harden not your hearts as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the desert” (Psalm 95:8). The mention of Massah and Meribah is a reference to a moment during the forty years the Israelites wandered in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, but what is it that happened there? Why is it to be avoided today?
Detail, Moses strikes the rock at Meribah, MS M.638 f. 9v
Those twelve tribes constituted the one
family of Israel whom Moses had led from slavery in Egypt to freedom through
the waters of the Red Sea. Before they escaped, God had worked many wonders in
Egypt for them in their very sight. And yet, growing weary of their desert marches,
they forgot what God had done for them and the promise he made to them.
They camped at a place called Rephidim. Although the name of that site means “place of rest,” “there was no water for the people to drink” (Exodus 17:2). Consequently, they quarreled with each other and grumbled against Moses for leading them there and demanded, “Give us water to drink” (Exodus 17:2). They asked, “Is the Lord in our midst or not,” despite all that they had seen him do for them; they effectively forgot the Lord, their Redeemer, in all of his might, did for them (Exodus 17:7). The place of rest was therefore renamed “the place of the test” – Meribah - and “the place of the quarreling” – Massah. They quarreled with one another and grumbled against Moses and against God because, in their fear, they neglected the foundation of love.
The same temptation can sometimes befall us. How often do we seek to quarrel because we are afraid of being hurt? How often do we grumble against one another because we fear vulnerability? This is not what Christ Jesus intends for his Church. Instead, he counsels us to reconcile with those who sin against us.
He reconciled us to himself through his blood shed on the Cross, showing us the perfection of love. Our sins against him are infinitely greater than anyone’s sins against us could ever be; how, then, can we fail to seek reconciliation with each other? Saint Augustine reminds us that Jesus, “who came to fulfill the law gave love through the Holy Spirit, so that charity might accomplish what fear could not.”[3] Achieving the perfection is difficult, but it is not beyond us if we live in the love of him who promises to be with the family of his Church.
May the Lord in his goodness, prevent us from turning our lives into places of testing and quarreling. Let us pray that he our lives places of rest through the strength of his love. If we seek to watch over one another in love as one family of faith, we will “sing joyfully to the Lord” and “come into his presence with thanksgiving” (Ezekiel 33:7; Psalm 95:1, 2). Amen.
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