10 September 2023 – 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)

by Fr Fabian Dicom

Our society has witnessed a greater sense of human solidarity and compassion in the way many Malaysians have responded, had responded, to the needs of those who were suffering in the wake of the Covid pandemic. People have been looking out for neighbours who were living alone, confined to their homes. There were so many examples of what Malaysians did during that period.

Many church organisations and parishes in the country must be commended for their efforts in reaching out to those in need by providing food, by providing essential items and even financial assistance. Now many of these efforts continue till today even after the end of the pandemic. There has been a greater awareness of the people who are in need and consequently a greater response by many people. Many in this parish, we all know, did a lot and continue to do so through the various ministries and projects.

Now this virus has brought home to us that what I do or what I don’t do has consequences for others. We realise that it made us more aware of our interdependence. Even a simple thing like using a mask or social distancing during the peak period of the pandemic was not just to protect ourselves, it was to protect the other person as well. So we were concerned about the others.

Now the value of watching out for each other is very evident in today’s Readings. In the First Reading, the Prophet Ezekiel has the sense of the Lord calling him to be a sentry, a watchman for the people of Israel. Now the sentries as we know stood at the walls of the city and their task was to warn the inhabitants of approaching danger. They were the eyes and the ears of the community. They watched so that others could go about their business safely. Ezekiel is not a watchman in that physical sense. But he knows that the Lord is calling him to be a spiritual and moral watchman for the people of Israel. God wants His people to live in a way that will serve their well-being and that of others.

It is important for us to note that everything that God wants is not for Him. It is for us. So God wanted His people to live that way and Ezekiel is to watch the people on God’s behalf, to ensure that they live as God is calling them to live. In the ways that allow them to be true to their calling to be the light of the nation.

Now there is a similar sentiment expressed in the Gospel Reading as well. Jesus calls on His disciples to watch out for one another. In a sense of taking some responsibility for the spiritual and moral well-being of others in the community of believers; the church. Now He states how this is to be done in very concrete ways. And while it is specific to the time of Jesus and the early church, the church that Matthew was writing for, nevertheless the principles supporting it remains valid till today. Jesus is reminding us that the behaviour of anyone of us has implications for every one else in the community of believers.

Now just as the past years have caused us to be very aware that we are all interdependent when it comes to our physical well-being, now Jesus is reminding us that we are equally interdependent when it comes to our spiritual and moral well-being. The goodness and the failings of one member affect the entire group.

When anyone of us lives our relationship with the Lord to the full, we are making it easier for everyone to do as well.

When anyone of us fails to respond to the Lord’s call, we are making it more difficult for others to do so.

It is evident that Jesus is giving His disciples, giving the early Christian community, giving us part of a blueprint on how to be church. To be church – to be a people centred on God, to be a people of God, to be the salt and light of the world. That is what Saint Paul is telling us in the reading as well and how there is this mutual depth of love. That is how we have to do it.

And you know the most amazing thing here is at the end of this Gospel, Jesus is giving us the simplest definition of church, on how to be church. It is so simple it is almost easy to miss. And I must thank Fr Richard Rohr in his reflection for this insight. Now he paraphrase this whole text in the Gospel today and he says:

Jesus said: Wherever two or three are gathered (let’s say in a good way, in a loving way, in a trustful way), I am here. I am here.

Whenever we are gathered in a loving, trustful, honest way, The Lord is here. He says you can’t get a more basic definition of the presence of Christ than people in an honest and loving relationship. They don’t have to be talking religious language, he says “I am here”.

Fr Rohr goes on to say that it is just as strong a statement as the one where Jesus appears to say that He is present in the bread and in the wine that we all believe. Or present in the words of the Bible, the Word of God, as most Christians believe. But here Jesus, undercuts both of those. He says it is simpler than bread and wine. It is simpler than believing in the Bible is believing in love, in communion, in trust. And people who have trustful, loving relationships know God. As simple as that. It is almost too simple and we missed it. And we love to make things complicated.

And though complicated at times, do you know that it is, actually you may disagree with me, I accept, but it is actually easier to do all that we are doing here for this one hour week in and week out, organising the parish, carrying out the activities than to really look out for everyone, than to have that loving, honest, trusting relationship with one another. But it is only in that kind of relationship where two or three or hundred or a thousand are in a loving, trusting way, a way that we can take care of each other, can we become aware of the presence of Jesus. That we can truly experience the Lord, that we can really feel the power of Jesus, that we can know that we are the body of Christ.

And in the words of the Psalm: “We are his people. We belong to the Lord’s flock, the flock that is led by His hand.” This is what define that flock.

So my dear brothers and sisters, as an appendix to my homily this morning, I would like to add this:

The Pope has a prayer intention every month. And the prayer intention for this month, the month of September, is for people living on the margins of society, in inhumane conditions. He says (this is the prayer for them): “May they not be overlooked by institutions and may they never be considered of lesser importance.” The Pope urge the faithful to stop making invisible those who are on the margins of society, whether it is due to poverty, to addiction, mental illness or disability.

This I am quoting the words of the Pope. And instead he says: Focus on accepting them, on welcoming all people who need it.

I want to rephrase one of the Pope’s sentences and say this: Stop making invisible those who are on the margins of this parish.

These include not just those mentioned earlier about poverty and addiction and mental illness and disability but also those with different lifestyles, those with different orientations, sexual orientations, those we have labelled as not practicing, those who are disillusioned, angry and hurt by all of us.

This is a call out to BEC Leaders and members. Let us not limit our notion, our belief of who or what the church is to this building. If we have done that, we have not got it. So much of the parish efforts and resources are only for those who come. Agreed?

We don’t want to break down how much we spend. It is fine but what about all the others? Perhaps we need to be creative. Perhaps we need to be daring and to step out in faith and bring the church to the periphery, to the margins. How?

Let us pray about that. Pray seriously and just do it. For Jesus said: Whenever two or three of you are gathered in a good way, in a loving way, in a trustful way, I am here.

Click below to listen to homily and watch video:-

Click to live-stream Mass on 10 September 2023