Coffee With God

Reflection: Matthew 5:20-26

Today’s gospel gives us some practical guidelines on the path of fraternal love. This fraternal love and relationship with a brother/sister cannot be separated from our relationship with God. As far as the Scribes and Pharisees were concerned, the only way to relate with God consisted in the most scrupulous observance of every detail of the Torah, the Jewish Law. They taught the people that, the more perfect the observance of the letter of the Law, the better chances to be close to God. We find similar attitudes among many in our Church communities today. There are many who are very anxious to know whether a certain action “is a sin” or not. For example, many are worried, if it is a sin to eat meat on Fridays of the Lent. But such an approach leads only to fear of God’s punishments. Thus, God becomes a menacing shadow ready to strike at our smallest wrongdoing. This passage comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus contrasts the demands of the Law with those of the Gospel. The commandment not to kill for example, implies even hatred and anger often expressed by abusive language. A physical killing is only an outward expression of the killing that one has already committed in his heart. How often do we piously go to Mass when we have deeply hurt another person? We cannot have one set of relationships with God and another set with people. When anger is allowed to build up, it leads one to commit more serious mistakes. The Word of God reminds us not to come before the Lord in worship until we are at peace with one another. How can we share in the Body and Blood of the Lord if we are at enmity with a brother or sister who is also a member of that same Body? The Whole eucharistic celebration is also a moment of reconciliation. We begin the Mass, asking forgiveness from God and from the people of God. Before the offertory, we are reminded to get reconciled with one another before we make the offering. While preparing to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, we repeat the Lord’s prayer, promising the Lord that we have forgiven our offenders. And we make the sign of peace with those around us as an expression of our forgiveness to everyone. But the question is, if this sign of peace has become an empty gesture, like a nod of the head, with very little meaning and, for the most part, made to someone whom we do not even know. Let us put the meaning back into the ritual and be reconciled with one another.