My friends, with each passing week in Ordinary Time, I am amazed with how the Spirit of God, of our brother Jesus, and other inspired writers, thinkers, “lovers,” in the sense of, those who move in our world with love, display a most simple message for us to follow in our lives as Christians. Here is a sampling from today’s Scriptures: 

• From Sirach – “If we forgive, we will be forgiven – show mercy and you [too] will be pardoned – don’t hate.”
• Psalm 103 – “Our God is tender and compassionate, slow to anger, most loving.”
• Romans – “We do not live for ourselves” [alone].
• Matthew – “moved with pity…the official …wrote off the debt.”

Looking over these “simple” messages, written rather matter-a-factly,  we realize upon a deeper look, that each one, can be, at times, very hard to do…so let’s take another look. 

   Sirach’s message that we forgive, showing mercy, will be followed by us, “being pardoned.”  Easy to write and speak about, but so hard at times to do!  We can think of the recent, high-profile case of Lindsay Clancy, and the murdering of her three children, something that at face value, seems abhorrent to us, but yet a “happening” that as a human being, and follower of our brother Jesus, can only truly be looked at with a great deal of mercy, unlike the sole juror who could only see a horrendous crime done to three children with no attempt at understanding what drove their mother to such a thing.

   And friends, my attempt here is not to speak of the rightness or wrongness of this action, but just to demonstrate that the “gray” areas in life many times don’t fit nicely into the black and white rules of a society.  The words of the psalmist today in #103 give us some counsel, I think…”Our God is tender and compassionate, slow to anger, most loving.”  We, as spiritual people must attempt some of the same…

   Jesus, in today’s gospel answers Peter’s question of “how many times he must forgive – 7 times? – with, basically, an almost, never-ending number of times when lived out practically, 70×7! 

   Today’s readings really call us “to treat others as we would want to be treated” – and there is so much in today’s world that seems opposite of that.  This past Friday, our country remembered that 25 years ago we were attacked in a massive way killing nearly 3,000 people in assaults aimed at our business world, military institution, and another failed, but planned attack on the government of our country.  The mastermind behind all this destruction, Osama bin Laden, was someone who felt justified in attacking countries and its citizens  who were supportive of attacks against the Muslim world.  Sirach in today’s 1^st reading says, “Don’t hate.”

   Again, I must remind us all, that none of this is easy – it takes great strength, patience, and indeed love to face actions in our world that are so loveless.  But this horrible action, like so many in our world, didn’t happen for no reason, whether or not it was right, and what civilized people would do.  Of all the tributes given on Friday, the comments of two young women stood out because of their open questioning of our present-day involvement with Saudi Arabia, the originator of the crimes of 25 years ago, because of what we stand to gain.  But remembering as the psalmist says, that God is “tender and most loving,” must be part of our thought and action in our world.

   In today’s gospel we get a sampling of this kind of action – the official, had he acted in a black and white way, would have sent the debtor to jail for the better part of his life…  but instead of acting thus, he didn’t, as we have said in the past, “over-think” his response, but instead, engaged his heart, forgiving the debtor.  The story continues letting us know that the debtor didn’t feel a responsibility to act in like manner. 

   This story reminds me of a present-day one that Robert and I have been involved in.  In 2024, the Catholic church at Wilson, Minnesota was closed and slated to be demolished, a church that had been a part of the extended Redig family for many, many years.  Here we have a black and white situation – low attendance, not enough clergy to pastor those remaining , close it, and tear it down! 

   Robert engaged the diocesan hierarchy, the bishop—our own Robert Barron, and took the case ultimately to Rome as directed, advocating that this basically, sound structure be allowed to stand as a testament to the faith of its parishioners, whose spiritual lives have been wrapped in the graces of this place for over 150 years. It was suggested to the powers -that-be that perhaps the building could be lit in the evenings to let its stained- glassed windows shine for a few more years, making the church available for future celebrations of life, weddings and more.  It was also suggested to consider it for sale for possible housing as there is such a shortage in the Winona area.  All to no avail!

 It should be mentioned that the decision to close and destroy was only approved of by a small number of people in comparison to those who wanted to preserve the building. As we often see with church hierarchy in matters such as this, communication is poor and lacking in compassion for all that is involved. 

   One has to wonder if destroying church buildings is the answer – out of sight, out of mind to the hierarchy’s failure and lack of creativity in finding alternatives for pastoring their people – to tell the People of God that basically, male genitalia is the most needed criteria for ordaining those who will pastor our people is simply ludicrous!

   Along with this thought is another, like story.  Some of you probably remember an inactive priest, 10 years out from ordination, who visited All Are One at our old site one Sunday.  His name is Matt. He was actively serving a small parish in Wisconsin that was going to close due to low attendance, as the church couldn’t afford to pay for a full-time pastor.

   Matt suggested to the bishop that he would get a part-time job at Kwik Trip, and the parish could keep him on part-time to cover the needs of the people there.  Sounds like a wonderfully creative idea to me!  The bishop turned him down, and due to other things that Matt couldn’t live with, he took his call to pastoral care elsewhere. 

   In conclusion, my friends, I would like to share some rather profound and beautiful thoughts from Franciscan Richard Rohr.  He speaks prophetically, I feel, of the Incarnation as a trilogy of action – 1^st, the creation of all life, 2^nd, Jesus becoming, One-With-Us, showing us how to be truly human, and 3^rd, an on-going action into the present, and beyond, of God, as “Christ” being infused into all people, and into our beautiful world. 

   Rohr goes on, “This beautiful notion of the Christ infusing all of creation was halted in the 3^rd Century with the romanization of the Church” – which for all intents and purposes became more about law (over-thinking the matter) than about love. 

   Father Rohr says we need to get back to the Church that Jesus prayed for the night before he died – a Church where “all would be one.”  As you all know, this is the reason why our church bears the name, “All Are One,” where all are welcome at our table.  Richard Rohr would say of our Church’s present inability to welcome all – “Take your Christian head off, shake it wildly, and put it back on!’

   My friends, our walk with Jesus calls each of us to find ways to make life better and more just for e-v-e-r-y one, again remembering, that each is infused with the very life of God.  We can’t get distracted by surface religiosity – transubstantiation and the like, but must pray for the strength to get out of our “comfortable boxes/boats,” and walk on sometimes “scary waters,” getting on with the work that our brother Jesus entrusted to us.  Amen? Amen! 

My friends, if we stopped with the 1^st reading today from the prophet, Ezekiel, we might come away with a feeling of, “Ugh!” which is what I did upon first glance.  But, thankfully, the Church gave us two more readings, so we can come away a bit more hopeful, in that, one, we are loved by God, and that two, this same God really wants only good, and not bad for us in life. 

   Additionally, this 1^st reading is yet more proof that we should not read Scripture literally, and that we do not take this short reading, or any other, out of context. Prophets usually show up when the people, “lose their way,” when they basically forget that they, “are spiritual people, here, having a human experience.”  Also, prophets seem to show up, thankfully, when people aren’t even acting much like human beings.  There are many present-day situations in our country and world for which the above seems true. 

   Ezekiel’s reading seems harsh, initially, but no doubt, we are getting just the tail-end of a very long discussion where the prophet can’t get the people to see his meaning and its importance.  Jesus, in his short life with us was discouraged in the same way with people wanting power and control over their enemies, revenge for past injuries, and he, as the Messiah, was their ticket to get all of that, when all that Jesus really wanted, was that they would simply, love each other…

   The psalmist’s lament, “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts,” was no doubt that of Ezekiel and Jesus too as they tried to “break-through” the “hardened hearts” of the people that each came to serve. 

   With the psalmist’s lament, it is important to recognize that he/she addresses “the hardening” occurring in the “heart,” not the “head.”  This is significant in that it says, “Don’t overthink this!” Just do!  Going to the “heart” instead of the “head” would be, I think we could agree, a very feminine thing to do, thus the reason for suggesting a feminine author through the use of the pronoun, “she” above.

   As an aside, I think it is important to mention that it is thought by some that there were psalms written about “women’s life cycles,” but unfortunately were lost, so that none are attributed to the “gentler” sex.  David is given credit for half of them along with several other men… and so it goes.

   Coming back then to the readings, in Paul’s letter to the Romans today, he reminds them and us that we have a “debt that binds us to love one another.”  And he goes on to say that we should,” Love [that] neighbor as [we] love ourselves.” 

   In the past when this phrase has come up about, “Loving others as we do ourselves,” we have discussed here, the assumption that, “we do indeed love ourselves.”  For any number of reasons, one might find that they, “don’t love themselves,” so that this command might find a person not really knowing how to love others. 

   I can remember in my days working as a chaplain with people in the Department of Behavioral Medicine, meeting many folks who didn’t have much love for the person they were or had become… therefore, a better way to look at this command, for some, might be, “Love others as God loves you,”  because we know that God does love us no matter who we are or what our life may have been about.

    Another important concept that we should realize coming out of Paul’s letter today is the fact that as a good Jew, he would have been aware of over 600 rules and regulations that were part of his faith belief, yet, he seems to be saying today, “if love is present, in our activities, then all those rules and “regs” are basically covered!

   One has to wonder why a religion would establish 600 laws when one law, “to love,” covers it all.  And the answer through the wisdom of our years is that it is much easier to do the 600 than it is to do the one!  You know this to be true, if you have ever tried to love someone that you find unlovable.

   Our brother Jesus always wants us to “dig deeper” – to not get, “lost in the weeds,” as it were, over sterile rules, for instance, demanding that we acknowledge that the bread and wine on the table is “real flesh and real blood,” as on an altar – letting it remain there as a sacrifice to an angry God.  No, Jesus asks that we go deeper, realizing that the gift of his life, death, and resurrection was meant as just the starting place from which we would take this wonderful story and share it with others, each of us becoming, through the reception of the Eucharist, “his body, his blood” in the world.  He said as much before he physically left us – “You will do greater things than me.”

   Before concluding here, I would like to go back to the psalmist’s words once again: “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts” – sometimes we might wonder “how” we can be sure that what we are “hearing” comes from God… I have found, overtime, that when there is “peace within,” for the most part, God is present. And additionally, if what I am proposing to do, “is about love,” that is another sign of its “rightness.”

   And my friends, if this seems just too overwhelming, remember Jesus ‘ words from Matthew’s gospel today, [when] “two or three of you gather in my name, I am there with you.”  Now, additionally, this should tell us that there is much more strength in numbers, when we set out to do something – writing postcards asking for better, demonstrating prophetically, whatever it might be – remember, where two or three are gathered, our brother Jesus is with us!    Amen? Amen!