In the midst of them August 16

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name,there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20

Piety

Let us pray: Jesus, give us the courage to speak up for you. Too often we are just like your apostles…asleep in the Garden, denying you, and out fishing. It’s hard to confront people with the truth like You did. Send us the words to gently affirm your message to others and the world and then send us the will to do it. Because we know that You never ask us to do anything that you did not do yourself, give us a loving community to support us when we need to be refreshed for the tough mission ahead. Amen.

Study

http://www.usccb.org/nab/081606.shtml

The glory of the Lord is higher than the skies but Matthew and Ezekiel bring us back to Earth today with talk of sin and our role in correcting it.

Sin. It’s there and we have to deal with it. But today, the focus is not on our own obstacles to God's friendship but other people and our call to help them. It’s a lot easier to deal with our own personal sin through reconciliation and change. But we can’t stop there. We have a responsibility to work to change others and society.

Francis Cardinal Spellman once said, “Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man.” Note that he used the conjunction AND. We must do both.

Matthew reminds us that God responds favorably to prayer even if it is a prayer by just a small number of people. “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:20

What is our role as Christians? To bear witness to the truth. Our duty is to take part in the life of the church through piety, study and action that bears witness to the Good News and the duties and obligations that flow from it. This includes admonishing and correcting the sinner.

This is not an option…its at the core of our duty as Christians. Earlier in the Book of Ezekiel (3:17-21) in the Hebrew Bible, we read about our duty to speak up about injustice: I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me. If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death.

Action

We are appointed the watcher of the House of Virginia. We have a responsibility to bear witness to the truths of our faith. Not some of them. All of them.

You can request a copy of a consisten life bumper sticker from Ron Chandonia or send an e-mail to: madprof@mindspring.com with the Subject Line “Consistent Life Ethic Bumper Sticker.”