“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989, by the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. USCCB approved.
The last line of today’s reading from Matthew’s Gospel has always touched me deeply, and reflecting on it of late caused me to recall a sacred moment at our family dinner table last week. It was later than usual and we were all quite hungry. Someone began prayer, “Bless us” only to be stopped by the youngest of my three grandsons who reminded us that it was his turn tonight to lead. “In da name of da Fader and da Son and da Hoyee Spiwit. Bess us, oh Yord….” he prayed. I couldn’t help but think of St. Ignatius bidding us to find God in all things and I pictured God smiling as he listened to the words of this little one. What a gift Jesus gave us when he promised to be with us wherever we gather in His name-however we speak it! And whenever we remember to open and close our prayer in the name of our Triune God we remind ourselves, others and God that we are, indeed, gathered in his Holy Name.
It might behoove us to pause as we pray this day lingering on the Holy Names of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Can you recall a recent gathering in God’s Name?
—Mary McKeon is a retreat master and spiritual director at the Bellarmine Jesuit Retreat House, in Barrington, IL.
“Lord, we thank you for your promise that wherever we are gathered in your name, there you are. We pray, in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” And then you pray to God in your own words.
—Mary McKeon
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