SPEAKER_00: There's a sad moment in today's first reading, but it's also so subtle that we can easily miss it.
SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel has a vision.
SPEAKER_00: He watches something almost unimaginable happen.
SPEAKER_00: The glory of God leaves the temple.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: For centuries the temple was the visible sign of God's presence among his people.
SPEAKER_00: It was a place where heaven and earth met.
SPEAKER_00: And now Ezekiel watches the glory of the Lord slowly depart.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Well, not because God stopped loving his people, but because his people had slowly stopped making room for him.
SPEAKER_00: That may be one of the greatest spiritual dangers we face.
SPEAKER_00: Very few people, and I've said this a lot, and I'll continue saying it, very few people wake up one morning and decide, oh, today I'm going to abandon God.
SPEAKER_00: It almost never happens that way.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, it happens one compromise at a time, one neglected prayer at a time, one unforgiving resentment, one hidden sin over and over again, one excuse after another.
SPEAKER_00: And then what happens is little by little, God is pushed from the center to the margins.
SPEAKER_00: Until eventually we discover that we're living as though he doesn't exist.
SPEAKER_00: He were no longer, he's no longer the center of our lives.
SPEAKER_00: Now I want you to listen carefully to today's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus has something remarkable.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: What has changed from the first reading?
SPEAKER_00: Because in Ezekiel, God's glory leaves a temple.
SPEAKER_00: In the gospel, Jesus is saying, I will dwell wherever people gather in my name.
SPEAKER_00: So God is no longer identified merely with a building.
SPEAKER_00: He desires to dwell in hearts.
SPEAKER_00: He desires to dwell in a family, dwell in the friendships.
SPEAKER_00: He desires to dwell in his church.
SPEAKER_00: That's why the first part of today's gospel is so important.
SPEAKER_00: It says, if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault.
SPEAKER_00: Because at first glance it sounds like Jesus is giving us instructions for conflict, or at least conflict resolution.
SPEAKER_00: But he's what he's doing here is much more than that.
SPEAKER_00: He's teaching us how to protect communion.
SPEAKER_00: Most people avoid difficult conversations because they are uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_00: And others enjoy them a little bit too much.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus chooses neither approach.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Go to your brother, not to embarrass him, not to defeat him, not to prove you're right.
SPEAKER_00: Go because a relationship matters.
SPEAKER_00: Go because communion matters.
SPEAKER_00: Go because Christ desires to remain in the midst of his people.
SPEAKER_00: You see, fraternal correction is not about winning an argument.
SPEAKER_00: It's about refusing to lose a brother or sister.
SPEAKER_00: And that changes everything.
SPEAKER_00: There's another detail in today's first reading that has fascinated Christians from the earliest centuries.
SPEAKER_00: God tells the angel to place the Hebrew letter Tao, the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, on the foreheads of those who remained faithful.
SPEAKER_00: The ancient form of that letter looked remarkably like a cross.
SPEAKER_00: The early Christians saw it as a beautiful foreshadowing.
SPEAKER_00: Long before the cross of Calvary, God was already marking his faithful people with the sign of salvation.
SPEAKER_00: Think about what we do every day.
SPEAKER_00: Before the gospel's proclaim, we trace a small cross on our forehead, on our lips, and on our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: We're asking that God's word shape our minds, our speech, and our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: You see, the cross is not simply something we wear, it is the identity we live, it is who we are.
SPEAKER_00: And perhaps that's the question for us all.
SPEAKER_00: If someone looked at my life, where would they see God?
SPEAKER_00: Where would they say that God lives?
SPEAKER_00: At the center or somewhere on the edges?
SPEAKER_00: Does my family become more peaceful because I'm there?
SPEAKER_00: Does my workplace become more honest because I work there?
SPEAKER_00: Do people encounter Christ because they are encountering me?
SPEAKER_00: The temple is no longer the only place where God desires to dwell.
SPEAKER_00: He wants to dwell in your heart.
SPEAKER_00: And wherever Christ truly remains at the center, something extraordinary happens.
SPEAKER_00: Broken relationships begin to heal.
SPEAKER_00: Communion replaces division.
SPEAKER_00: Peace overcomes resentment.
SPEAKER_00: And the glory that once departed from the temple finds a new home in the human heart.
SPEAKER_00: And that's your heart.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.