It is 11th September 2018. The readings are from 1 Corinthians 6:1-11; and the Gospel from Luke 6:12-19. Are we hurting Christ and the Church by our petty squabbles and issues? Have in-fighting, disunity and personal hatred in the Church gone out of hand? Don’t we believe in one another anymore? Have we come to a point to believe a non-believer or the one who hates Christ more than one who believes Christ? Dragging the Church to a civil court for the reasons that could be solved within the Church and its leaders is like crucifying Christ again in the public square by the very people who claim to believe Jesus. Can we expose and shame the interest of the Church for our personal agenda and achievements? Same applies to the families and the communities who have issues and conflicts which could have been resolved by the members of the families and communities but dragging them with claws of vengeance and taking revenge would destroy the foundations of the communities and families. Justice we seek does not belong to this world alone. Even if the courts have passed their judgements on the members of the Church because of our selfish choices, there is a Court of God where we will have answer and stand for what we believed over the dignity of the co-believer. We can resolve issues in the Church with the power of prayer and allowing Christ to use the honourable, faithful, exemplary, sincere, prayerful members who have the wisdom of the Holy Spirit in resolving issues. What is required of us is our personal conversion not fixing persons for personal satisfaction and self-righteous attitudes. How can we do wrong to our own brother or sister from the Church we belong, the family we belong and the community we belong and still claim ourselves to be believers? Are we trying to cheat God and Christ by our human unfair judgements and treatments to our brothers and sisters? Let us not expose the sins of others before thoroughly examining our own faults, sins and our contributions or indifference to the particular sin in question. In the first reading, St. Paul wishes that our communities begin to believe in the strength of one another and to forgive the weakness in others. Thiers is in the public domain, ours is in God’s domain. We have no surety that what is known to God alone will not be exposed by God to the public? Let us not abuse the weakest members of the Church. Let us not crucify the Lord and the Church anymore for our selfish causes, disunity and lack of trust in one another. Are we different being in indifferent to one another? The responsorial Psalm praises, “The Lord takes delight in his people.” (Ps.149:4). In the Gospel, Jesus after having discerned in prayer appointed the Twelve to build, to evangelise, to unite and bring people closer to God by the healing ministries of the Kingdom of God. Jesus sets a tone of prayer before making major decisions in His life on earth such as the choice of the Apostles, before entrusting the keys to St. Peter, at the transfiguration, in the Garden of Olives, on the Cross, and whenever He had to bring to life. Do we pray enough to make decisions that we will never regret? We drag people unnecessarily and expose them when we have not drawn our souls to God in prayer. It is the lack of prayer that brings the fragmentation of our souls. We all wish to touch and be healed by Jesus whose power heals our divisive and sinful souls. May our personal prayer life contribute to a constructive feedback and caring confrontation that builds the finest and the most vulnerable fibres of the Church, the family and the community. May God bless each one us to promote unity and to protect the dignity of others. May you have a good day. God bless you.