Sunday Reflection with Fr Robin Gibbons 16 January 2014

Fr Robin Gibbons

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

One of the great liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council was the restoration of the sign of peace. I know many people objected to it and sometimes it became a testing place for who was friends with whom, but if we enter into its intrinsic meaning we realize that it calls us back to what Jesus commands us to do, reconcile with our brother and sister before we bring our offerings to the altar. Roman Catholics are asked to offer Christ’s peace before they come up to communion, Eastern Catholics, the Orthodox and many Protestant communities offer the peace before the actual offertory part of their Eucharistic liturgy. All of us whatever denomination we belong to are fulfilling the deep command of Christ to reconcile ourselves in Him, for it is Christ’s peace we offer and receive.

This takes us to the heart of the Gospel passage for Matthew brings together several separate strands of the Lord’s teaching but roots them in one single perspective. Basically it is an acknowledgement that anger is one of the root causes of so many sins, how we deal with it will be the key to so many things. William Blake puts it so well in his poem, The Poison Tree.

‘ I was angry with my friend, I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe: I told it not, my wrath did grow’.

That sums up for me a key to Christ’s teaching on fulfilling the law, it rests on the question of how open and honest we are prepared to be, firstly with God and secondly with ourselves and others. This doesn’t mean we lack circumspection or prudence, Paul tells the Corinthians that the Holy Spirit will reveal the truth, because the Spirit knows the depths of God.. We need to recognize that the only way we can defeat sin is to reconcile ourselves to each other in Christ by being open to the Spirit, but that also means telling the truth in love.

Truth and reconciliation helped South Africans to overcome the bitterness and hatred brought about by the terrible injustice of apartheid. It is no more and no less than what we are asked to do when we make the sign of peace with each other, for our neighbour is Christ as we are and His peace flows from true reconciliation.

Fr Robin Gibbons is an Eastern Rite Chaplain for the Melkite Greek Catholics in Britain.