Reopening for Mass. Communion. (2020-06-28, 13th Sunday)

2020-06-28 _ 13^th Sun (A)   ● 2 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16a ● Psalm 89 ● Romans 6:3-4, 8-11  ●  + Matthew 10:37-42 ●

Title:    Re-opening for Mass. Communion.

[_01_]    Drive-thru Communion? Mass in the parking lot? Have you been to such a celebration?

          As the lockdown and stay-at-home order has dragged on and on, many of us have experienced the longest “Lenten fast” from going to Communion in our entire adult lives and seen various experimental ways that churches have reached out.

          When we say “last Sunday at church” or what happened last Sunday at church, we usually mean 7 days ago.  Our last Sunday Mass was on March 8 – that was 111 days ago.

          111 days from now will take us to October 17.  Maybe we should install a drive thru, just in case?

 

[_02_]    How do we stay connected? Do we rely on electronic means for this connection, for this presence, this presence of God in our lives.

[_03_]   I would like to contrast the choice between “Presence” and “Prejudice” in our lives.

          Prejudice we could say is a form of pride or arrogance.

          There is a famous novel with the word prejudice in it… Jane Austen’s book “Pride and Prejudice” and I just read that the original title of this classic novel was “First Impressions”.   And… isn’t prejudice a way of being guided by our first impressions…or sometimes it is a way of avoiding what is true and beautiful in our first impression.

          We live in a world chaotic right now and divided – but is it divided because our “first impressions” are always wrong … or is it because we are listening the first impressions of others.

          Prejudice is a form of pride and sometimes a form of false comfort. Prejudice may lead us to under-react or over-react in a particular situation.

 [_04_]    When I was at the end of summer after 4^th grade and before 5^th grade, I was informed by my mother that I would not be going back to the school with which I was familiar, but being moved to the Catholic grammar school.

          I had no ideological objection to Catholic education, nor did I have any appreciation for a Catholic education, an education at grammar school and high school level for which I am now sincerely grateful.

          But, at the time, I certainly did not want to change, to go into unknown. My first impression was negative.

          After 5 years – Kindergarten – 1^st – 2^nd – 3^rd – 4^th grade at one school, I was afraid of the disruption. I did not know what would come next.

          The fact that my brothers were also changing to the new Catholic school did not make feel any less alone in this. They were 3 years and 6 years younger – what did they know?

          I, on the other hand, was on the verge of the 5^th grade and would be able to ride my bicycle to school. I was consoled by the fact that I could also ride my bicycle to the new school.

          It was kind of like getting a driver’s license, having my own vehicle, et cetera.

 

[_05_]   In the Gospel, this Sunday, Jesus addresses his disciples and you and me about launching and making a new start as his disciples..

          This is chapter 10 of Matthew’s Gospel which includes the sending out of the first disciples.

          I wonder what some of their first impressions were? Their misgivings?

          I had no misgivings or objections to going to school itself or doing the work. I did wonder about – in fact I had some fear and trepidation – about the new classmates.

          Everything was new and unfamiliar.

         

[_06_]    When things are new and unfamiliar, we also tend to make them even more complicated than they already are.

          My first impression of the new school – simply because it was unknown- was negative.

          In the Book of Deuteronomy, we read this about our calling to LIFE – to GOODNESS – to COMMUNITY – it is not complicated, it is not “up in heaven nor is it beyond the sea….but it is very near to thee and in thy hearts …. Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil ….”

(Deuteronomy 30: __selected verses….)

          Sometimes, this is how a prejudice can start. It starts based on what I think is up in heaven or beyond the sea.

 

          Deitrich von Hildebrand’s point is that “knowledge is the presupposition for communion.”

          Considering the “off-to-a-new-school-example”, I recall that shortly after my mother told me about the new school, we were taken to the store for the school uniform clothing. In this case, the physical wearing of the uniform was necessary, but did not automatically make more comfortable.  

          In this case of real community or communion, it is is not enough to be together physically. He cites the example that 2 drops of water can be merged, can be fused that that they are in no way formed into a communion because they have no knowledge of each other.

 [_07_]   So, what is “prejudice”?

          Prejudice would be to take for granted that just because I have lived next door to you or gone to the same school or been somehow seen with you that we are one.

          This same thing can be true in marriage or family, that just because we are physically close or adjacent or near that we are in communion.

          Communion requires not proximity or nearness but knowledge.

          I have said this before – I will say it again…it requires for example you to say to the person with whom you have endured the a crisis or a difficult day or a day when you were all in the same room or under the same roof and and just at the point that you think you know everything the other person is thinking you say, “and how was your day?”

          Tell me about yourself, when you think you already know.

          Communion is not just about 2, but about 3, about our communion in God, praying that we are in Communion this Sunday, next Sunday, wherever we are.  [_fin_]