From the holy Gospel according to
Luke, Chapter 11, verses 14 to 23
"Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." [23]
The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Personal reflection on the reading
Sharing for the Day
One of the prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ at Gethsemane before he went through His passion and death was that for His followers to be one [see John 17:21]. This is consistent with His declaration that He has other sheep that must belong to His flock so that there would be only One Fold and One Shepherd [see John 10:16]. It is therefore very clear that when He established His Church upon Peter [see Matthew 16: 13-19] He intended to establish only One Church. It would be unthinkable that the Lord would wish to have separate churches instead of just one for God is the God of unity and communion not of discord and disunity proven by the fact that He wanted all men to be saved [see 1 Timothy 2: 3-4] and to become His children [see Ephesians 1: 4-5] to belong to His one family in heaven!
Peter's role among the Apostles was confirmed when the Lord told him to strengthen his brethren after he overcomes his fear and his denial of the Lord [see Luke 22:32] and then by the command to feed the Lord's lambs and sheep and to follow His footsteps [see John 21: 15-19]. The Apostles Paul on the other hand consistently teaches about the Church as one Body: the Body of Christ, with the Lord himself as Head [see 1 Corinthians 12]. It is very inconceivable for a person to have only one head with more than one body.
Being a member of the Church therefore means being a member of Christ. Hence, separation from the Church is severance from Christ our Lord. No one person can be a church on his or her own and no group can claim to be a church other than the one that the Lord himself founded. Anyone who cuts himself or herself from the Church therefore goes against the Lord; and those who are not connected to the Lord are truly scattered [see John 15: 1-9]. We need not mention them but see how they numerous they are being endlessly divided from each other with the only one thing very common among them their being anti-Catholic.
There are also those fake members who are proven to be such by making themselves useful to the devil by trying to attack the Church from within. While the Church is already being bombarded by outside forces, many of her members even aid the enemies by trying to turn her away from her own teachings to accommodate the mentalities and attitudes of the modern world. They seem to be like cancer cells that are dangerous to healthy cells of the body, that is, faithful members of the Church. They make themselves friends of the world forgetting perhaps what the Apostle James warned about: friendship with the world is enmity with God [see James 4:4]!
Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala of the Archdiocese of Kampala, Uganda said in an interview that, "There are no liberals and conservatives in the Catholic Church. It is only those who adhere to church tenets who are true members of the Catholic Church. Others may be hiding in the church but they are not true members." For him, if one cannot obey the Church, he or she is free to leave the Church because the Church does not have walls.
Many times we act like we are merely hiding within the comforts of the Church but actually are not true members of her. Though there are times when we do not want to adhere to her teachings, somehow we find ourselves having not enough courage to leave her - maybe because deep within our hearts we do believe in her being the One True Church founded by the Lord: we just want to have our lustful desires to be accommodated one way or another. We sometimes act like the cancer cells that would damage the Body of Christ. Fortunately, we have the Sacrament of Reconciliation to heal us from being cancer cells into healthy cells once again.
May we prove to be healthy cells, that is, loyal and faithful members of Christ our Lord's Body: the Church, the Catholic Church in particular. Let us never become cancer cells; rather let us be immunity cells that would help strengthen the Body against diseases helped by the Holy Spirit and sustained by the Holy Eucharist, by prayers and by the Lord's friendship.
[1] Prayer
Pray for the grace of obedience so that you may follow the Church being the Body of Christ.
[2] Abstinence
Abstain from something that lead you to disobey the Church.
[3] Almsgiving
What can you share today so that others may be inspired to follow the Church?
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