Sunday Reflection with Canon Robin Gibbons: 5 November 2023

11thC Cluniac fresco of Christ in Majesty

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

What a wonderful gift the Prophet Malachi gives to us in our first reading, even if the prophetic words need a bit of explanation in order for us to fully understand the context. They were uttered as part of an ongoing task of reinforcing the people's commitment to their God, here we find a section of the Deuteronomic Law that states no intermarriage should take place between Israelites and foreigners, as that would break their covenantal relationship with God, particularly if the marriage meant divorcing an Israelite women! Of course we might wonder why today, but in the history of the People of `Israel fidelity to God and the Torah also mean avoiding ( or conversely doing ) certain things. So when Malachi says;

'Have we not all one father?

Has not one God created us?

Why, then, do we break faith with each other,

profaning the covenant of our ancestors?' (Mal 2:10)

We note firstly the way in which he is calling Israel back to the path of righteousness, but secondly as people of the New Covenant how these words might apply to us in another context, that of the unity of humanity and of creation under God.

Taken in this wider context, Malachi's words are a good wake up call for us in a world that has too many problems we humans have created for ourselves, it is a salutary admonition for us to face the basic facts of our own religious faith and examine our own consciences, for as we believe and as Jesus taught us in the Gospel of this Sunday, we have 'One' God, who is revealed to us in those three persons, and in whom we trust, even if we fully do not understand the mystery that the Triune One is, and from whom all gifts flow. So when Jesus tells us about Our Father in heaven: 'Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven' (Mt 23:9) We need to be a little careful here how we explain it, because it has nothing to do with the actual term we so often use about people. The context of what Jesus is saying gives the real meaning to what he is doing making us act in the truth, because he is using examples of titles, good in themselves, if used properly and truthfully, but can become weapons of superiority, prejudice and divisiveness and that were abused by religious leaders.

Jesus shows us three examples of religious hypocrisy commonly used at that time, but not so far removed from things we get up to ourselves. Maybe I can suggest it as misappropriation of terms, of titles. These titles were used by them in ways designed to secure honour among the people, in other words the scribes and Pharisees demanded to be called 'Rabbi' (meaning teacher), 'leader' (meaning ruler), and 'father' (meaning a type of spiritual father). These titles appealed to them because they suggested that these characters were 'special' sources of spiritual wisdom, spiritual authority and spiritual blessing among the people of Israel, which of course they were not. They acted a part, showed off, in other words they had not earned the respect, nor had the moral authority to use them. They ruled the people not out of a love for God, or for justice's sake, but merely to gain honour and attention for themselves. Notice in vs.5-7, Jesus says that these men sought the praises of the people and respectful greetings in public settings, perhaps something we too need to avoid with ourselves and call out in those who do it publically!

Though such behaviour was common practice for the learned religious leaders of Jesus' day, Jesus wanted His disciples to set a different example. Instead of seeking public recognition and competing for personal honour, the disciples of Jesus were to exhibit humility before others. Jesus says that those who humble themselves in service to God will be exalted by God in the Kingdom. This is all about honesty and integrity, that idea of our yes being yes and our no, no! In other words when we are talking about ourselves and others in personal terms we should choose our words carefully to express the real truth of something.

The truth we face is that in Christ we are united, one in Him, and we are certainly part of the communion of the Kingdom even now, through our baptism and anointing with chrism. If we take the words of Malachi and Jesus from the point of view of today, where we stand in faith now, then the challenge of the Prophet and of Jesus is clear; we are people of the new and everlasting covenant through Christ, united in Him, why then do we break faith with each other? This is our antidote:

'The greatest among you must be your servant.
Whoever exalts himself will be humbled;
but whoever humbles himself will be exalted'. (Mt 23:12)

Let our gratitude for the gift of faith, our struggling love for God and our neighbour, bear fruit in the striving of our lives towards true humbleness of heart, so that with the we are able to use the words of Paul to the Thessalonians and truthfully say: 'And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe'.(I Thes 2:13)

Lectio

1. Prayer

Fr Robert Gibbons

Grant to me Lord Jesus,

the gift of ease in my faith.

That I may never be difficult about it with others

nor presume to use it as a tool that hurts.

Instead help me learn to grow in true humility,

to discern the Spirit at work and glimpse the Fathers care for all,

recognising the worth and importance of each person I meet.

May I value the gift of all living creatures that share my life-

as well as the beauty of Creation, which You so well knew on our earth.

And pour out on me that gift of the Spirit, which is compassion and tenderness

so that understanding my life as part of the Kingdom's growth;

I may find You in others,

know You in my heart,

and walk with You each day. Amen

2. Some Spiritual Reflections of Mary Ward

From : THE LIFE OF MARY WARD (1585-1645)

BY MARY CATHARINE ELIZABETH CHAMBERS OF THE INSTITUTE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN

On our neighbour

Make use of gentle and kind words when thou reprovest any one, for thou wilt thus effect more than through those which are harsh and overbearing.

Love all men, but love them not on thine own account, but for God.

Ours shall most diligently be on their guard that they never speak of the defects of other people, and especially not of those of religious. They shall also not complain of one another, but preserve charity indissolubly as the peculiar virtue of our company.

Do not easily be offended at the doings of others, since thou canst not know what is their intention ; but accustom thyself to put a good construction on all thou seest and hearest.

Although the conversion of souls is very pleasing to God, yet He loves the perfection of each one so greatly, that He wills not that any one should commit even the smallest sin, were the whole world to be converted thereby.

Take away from no one what he loves, unless thou givest him instead something he loves still better.

Ours ought to be endowed with the zeal of Apostles and the recollection of spirit of hermits, to attend at the same time to both their own and their neighbour's salvation.

It is a greater grace to help to save souls than oneself to suffer martyrdom.

Do good, and do it well