Friday, 5th Week of Ordinary Time (II)

February 13,2004

by Rev. Herbert Nichols

In today’s first reading we are introduced to Jeroboam, a minister in the service of King Solomon. When the prophet Ahijah tore his cloak into twelve pieces, he was illustrating that the kingdom of Solomon would be divided as it had been before his Father David. The southern kingdom would remain faithful to the tribe of Judah and Simeon, which had been incorporated. The other ten tribes would secede to the northern kingdom.

From this point they would go their separate ways with open hostility and animosity for one another. The power of God is such that even amid division and hatred He can work his plan. In fact, by Divine irony, God drew upon this situation to bring his Son into the world, to reverse the movement for separation and to replace hatred with love. On the night before He died Jesus prayed that all might be one.

In the gospel today Jesus teaches this lesson of unity using the instruments of geography, gesture, and goal.

Although Jesus is making his way toward Jerusalem, he goes out of the way to pass through Gentile Territory, people considered by Jews (Judeans), to be taboo.

He uses the gesture in healing a deaf man of groaning; perhaps not so much for healing, but for feeling vibrations, the only form of communication the dear man could understand.

And Jesus goal is to communicate the fullness of healing and unity; and not just to brag about physical healing.

Do we go out of our way to venture upon the turf of the enemy, or do we try as best we can to avoid it. In a communication that turns into a shouting match where no one any longer hears the other side, are we willing to back down and discuss feelings in an attempt to heal and share love? And is love our ultimate goal, or is it our own priorities?

Coach Bill Belichik of the New England Patriots expressed these three ideals in this way:

Every player has an impact. We all show leadership in one way or another every single day. You don’t just stand in front of the team and be a leader; the way you contribute to the team provides the degree of leadership. The influence of the group on each individual is the most powerful factor in team building.

Accountability, as opposed to selfishness and wanting to get a lot of recognition, is crucial. If you think about not letting people down that are counting on you; that pushes you to work a little harder to try to achieve a little bit more.

You don’t spend a lot of time being excited; you always have to be two steps ahead preparing for the next play. You don’t have time to think in advance about what we should do after this play should it happen. Nor do we spend time focusing on the laurels of past victories.

We won the Superbowl two years ago after a 10 or 11 game run, but it has no significance on what we hope will happen this year We are trying to focus on winning one game at a time. Until we get to, and if we win that ultimate game, then we can compare the two Superbowl championships.

In a word, unity is the cohesion that binds together. It is teamwork, and Jesus, like the coach, is the one who attempts to rally that unity in his team, whereby we speak and listen and respect one another.

Once again I want thank all of you for listening to me these past three weeks. I hope that in some way I have motivated the lessons which I just spoke of. And I thank your coach and pastor, Fr. Donald for once again inviting me.

I hope I will be back again. God bless you.