SUNDAY
10 September 2017, 23rd Sunday
• Ezekiel
33:7-9 • Psalm 95 • Romans 13:8-10 •
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Matthew 18:15-20 •
Title: “One on One.”
[__01__] At around 7:00 am, seven o’clock in the
morning, on August 7, 1974 (Wednesday), at
over 1,000 feet and 400 meters above the ground, Philippe Petit began to
walk on a high-wire tightrope from the top of the South Tower to the North
Tower of the World Trade Center. A few
hours earlier, he and his team had shot an arrow, a crossbow with a rope and
pulled – for hours, the heavy tightrope (cable) – into place between the North
Tower and South Tower of the World Trade Center.
For 45 minutes – forty-five minutes
– Monsieur Petit was on his high-wire. The NYPD Police Department finally
ordered him off the wire, arrested him …and he went to jail for a brief stay
for his stunt.
For those 45 minutes – and perhaps
much longer – everyone was focused on Philippe Petit in the sky. Everyone had a
connection to him, a one-on-one connection.
Though you and I could not – and
would not – walk on such a wire, with such a dramatic performance, we sense and
perceive a connection to the performer, to the place …and, even, perhaps, to
his arrest and punishment.
Well, that was of course only a
stunt, a high-wire act and it lasted only 45 minutes.
The towers themselves stood for much
longer, for years, decades.
[__02__] Years
later, now years after September 11, 2001, many of us still have a connection –
a visual connection – in the sky and skyline to the location of the Twin
Towers, the north and south towers, One
World Trade and Two World Trade.
And, on the anniversary of 9/11, 2
bright blue lights are visible from the ground and into the atmosphere as a
reminder of towers that were there.
Of
course, today, 2017, the area has been repaired, restored and new One World
Trade Center tower stands, along with a memorial to the many heroes and victims
of the day.
Yet, many of us have personal memories
and one-on-one connections to the day, to the event.
Many of can recall in great detail
things that happened in the morning of September 11, 2001, conversations we had
that day, things that happened later the same day. I can recall the professor,
the philosophy class, the building, the classroom at Seton Hall, the window I
looked out after hearing about the Twin Towers.
There was a one-on-one personal connection.
[__03__] In
the Gospel, this Sunday, Jesus speaks about the importance of 1-on-1
peacemaking, reconciliation.
When you and I have difficulty,
conflict with someone, we may hope/wish/pray that someone would intervene with
a solution.
Or, if we have caused a difficulty
with someone else, we are often relieved if someone else tells us about it,
warns us about what happened…so that we can “repair” or make up for the fault
in some other way.
It’s nice if this happens.
[__04__] But, sometimes one-on-one is the better way
and the only way.
And, in this sense, Jesus is outlining
and emphasizing certain things for us to consider.
[__05__] First,
WORDS.
If
there is a conflict or difficulty – if I have trespassed against you or
someone. I am called to put into words, in factual terms what has happened.
And, in this case, the word does not
mean that I am adding in my excuse for what happened … or my feeling about what
happened.
You and I have told – or heard – many
personal accounts of where a person was on 9/11. And, while there is often
great emotion in the telling, there is also great specificity, detail,
precision.
And, if we are to admit our faults to
another person – or to God – or if we are to forgive another person, we might
strive for the same precision, exactness.
Consider – you have probably forgiven
someone who has apologized to you. And, when you do, you simply state the fact
of your forgiveness.
That is, we strive to forgive without
a reminder or recall of the hurt. Just the facts. The fact of forgiveness. One
on one.
It does not require the GOVERNMENT to intervene.
It’s the Gospel.
The Good News of Jesus himself is
intervening.
[__06__] Many
lives were lost at Ground Zero as the towers came down.
Yet, thousands of lives were also
saved. This was not because there was anticipation or the perfect disaster
recovery plan. But, lives were saved
because of the heroic actions and presence of so many NYPD, Port Authority, New
York City Firefighters.
People who did not have to be on the
front line left their desks in midtown to be downtown, to be down n the
trenches.
And, it was because of many individual
one-on-one decisions by firefighters, police, emergency responders, by
co-workers, by bosses, by assistants, by executives and ordinary workers, by
neighbors, and by perfect strangers who came together one-on-one for the good
of all
Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Pray for Us.
[__08__] [__09__] [__10__] [__11_] [__fin__]
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