“For
where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of
them.” (Matthew 18:20)
Jesus
is always with us. Jesus never abandons
us. Jesus is always at our side. We believe this and we profess this, but when
things get desperate in our lives, we are so quick to forget this. When times are tough, we are so quick to ask:
where is God? Friday night, a friend
called me after a having a bad day. She
is a woman of strong faith, daily Mass, prayer, but as happens to all of us
every now and then, she was having a bad day.
I asked her if she had gone to Mass that day. Yes. I
asked her if she had done her prayers that day.
Yes. I asked her where her
friends were because they are also strong in their faith, and they were
scattered, and I thought of the last verse of today’s gospel. Sometimes we just need to stop and pray with
our friends, with our family, with those close to us because Jesus promises
that he WILL be there. What else do we
need?
The
readings today call us to be united to our brothers and sisters in Christ. It is in this unity that Christ is found, and
it is in this community that we experience divine love. St. Paul speak beautifully about this in the
second reading where he reminds us that in loving our neighbor we fulfill the
law and God’s plan for us to look out for one another. In loving our neighbor we become Christ for
them. And in that love, when fraternal
correction is needed, as Jesus explains in the Gospel, then that correction
will be embraced in love. As I say
constantly during weddings, we are responsible for each other’s salvation. And it is through our neighbors and through
those we love that we experience the presence of Christ.
My
friend wasn’t the only one who had a bad day on Friday. Mine was not necessarily
bad. It was a rollercoaster, but
throughout the day I kept getting reminders through others that Christ was at
my side. Early in the day, it was from
the joy of my preschoolers when I walked into their classroom. At the end of the day, it was from an elderly
priest whom I had never even met. He was
here to celebrate our evening Mass because I had a school function, and I went
over to the chapel to meet him. When I
entered the sacristy, this wonderful priest looks at me and joyfully said,
“You’re the new pastor!” and embraced me with a father’s love. We chatted briefly because Mass was about to
start, and as he was about to turn away to go into the chapel he tells me,
“Father, whatever you need, you can count on me!” Then this elderly priest did
something that only my father and my mother still do to me to this day: he traced the sign of the cross on my
forehead and said “May God bless you.”
Yes, priests need priests too. I
was tired when I walked into that sacristy, and I left renewed because I had
experienced Christ in this priest that I had never met who was so happy to meet
me. This is the love that St. Paul urges
us to give to each other. This is the
love that brings the presence of Jesus Christ into our midst. These small acts of love and kindness can
make a difference in the life of someone who is down, who is sick, who is
alone, who is desperate, or is just having a bad day. Always remember that you walk out of this
Church every Sunday with the living presence of Christ in your hearts. Share it with someone in need this week
because where two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus Christ our
Lord is right there with you.
