WEDNESDAY OF THE NINETEENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME GOSPEL & SERMON BY FR. S. OMONDI, AUGUST 12, 2020
THEME: STAGES OF RECONCILIATION REGINA CAELI KAREN CATHOLIC CHURCH - NAIROBI, KENYA AUGUST 12, 2020 FIRST READING: Ezekiel 9:1-7; 10:18-22 PSALM: Psalms 113:1-2, 3-4, 5-6 GOSPEL READING: Matthew 18:15-20 SERMON BY: FR. STEPHEN OMONDI • In today’s gospel Jesus presents us with the stages of reconciliation. • They are three: 1. Private dialogue in which we must put our complaint into words. The beauty of this is we don’t keep on thinking about the injury to a point it broods hate and probably malice but in a spirit of love and reconciliation we voice it out gently to the person. This also shows the person how it is not such a big thing to cause division amongst us. 2. Secondly we go to the approach them personally, not through letters or a intermediary. A letter or an intermediary may be misunderstood and may not have the tone of reconciliation we wish to express. 3. Dialogue in the presence of two or three witnesses. Note here that these witnesses are not there to prove the man wrong. They are wise people who will aid the process of reconciliation. 4. Consulting the community or the Church. This helps in solving your differences in love and prayer. To skip this part and go the legal way might bring justice but not healing. • Leaving the person alone if he or she does listen to any of the above if all these fails is simply to allow the person some time to reflect on their deeds and come to their senses. The Christian does not give up on someone else. • Simply put, we should not just pray together but also endeavor to have harmony and true peace in our communities. • Peace again is not just the absence of war because you may have people who are suffering silently because of the behavior of others but its more important that the peace manifested outside may be a true reflection of the inside. • Once you have achieved reconciliation and peace then you can have true unity amongst you as a community. • In summary what Jesus says in this gospel is we should spare no effort to make things right between us and the people who wrong us. • Put in other words we should not tolerate a situation in which there is a breach of personal relationship between us and another member of the Christian community. • Finally, Jesus talks about losing and binding. It simply means that our agreements as human beings are binding into eternity. • My mother had a way of putting it so we strive at reconciliation as soon as possible. She said if someone you have an issue with dies, that person cannot enter heaven until you also die and a case is heard between you two. • Jesus says at the end that where two or three are gathered in his name, he is there amongst them. A confirmation again that when we meet to do a good thing like look for reconciliation or peace then this is a very noble task and God is surely with us. • Do you know someone who you need to reconcile with? Now you know what to do.
