Friday of 1st. Week of Lent

March 5, 2004

Ezekiel 18:21-28

Matthew 5:20-26

Many people have a love/hate relationship with the Church, or with a particular parish. There are always those members who are just exasperating! But, as Ronald Rolheiser puts it: "All human families and organizations are dysfunctional, it is merely a matter of degree." So here we are, thrown together with all these imperfect people. Why bother? After all, many say they don't need organized religion, as they feel closest to God in a forest. (I wonder how often they actually wander through the redwoods.)

Rolheiser continues, "Church is not about a few like-minded persons getting together for mutual support, it's about millions of different kinds of persons transcending their differences so as to become a community beyond temperament, race, ideology, gender, language, and background." Apparently, this is what Jesus is asking of us. And it means I have an opportunity to leave my limited vision of the "right" way to see things, to open to the beauty of others, and to forgive. What a challenge, what possibilities. "See the Christians," said the scribe, "See how they love one another." May it be so.