Gospel of this Mass: Matthew 16
Excerpt Then Jesus said to his disciples,
"Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself,
take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world
and forfeit his life? Or what can one give in exchange for his life?
For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory,
and then he will repay all according to his conduct."
When Jesus asks us to take up our own cross and follow Him, it
means to live forward with faith, even dealing with suffering or in
losing our selfish manners, that God could save us home.
I know of a man who took the Bible verses literally, and carried a
cross around America for many years, as a traveling Christian
under a 12 foot cross of wood. His name was Arthur Blessitt.
In 1968 Arthur Blessitt picked up a ministry of picking up a cross.
Decades of traveling followed, with Arthur being on every continent
and island nation with his large crossbeam, encountering people from
diverse backgrounds, sharing a message of hope and destiny – and
his own testimony of what Jesus’ Cross had meant to him. At the last
count, when I last looked him up, when Arthur was 78 years young, he
had logged 43,340 miles and 86 million steps and over 19 billion
pounds carried. It won him a page in the Guinness Book of World
Records for longest walk/pilgrimage. It also got him on Christian TV
and had a Christian movie made of his life, kind of borrowing from the
scenes of Forrest Gump walking America, except Blessitt was a real
deal and had a reason for this ministry. To preach Christ Crucified for
our sins. And humanity’s need to repent to Jesus’ Cross.
He had people who were moved by his ministry, and who converted to
Christianity. Also, he had some many people mock him for his Cross
mission. He had been threatened to death many times, beaten
sometimes, arrested 24 times, and traversed in 54 nations that were in
some kind of war at the time.
I saw Arthur once myself. Around 1979. I’ve read some of his
testimony here and then after that, but mostly lost track of him. I was
surprised to hear that he had married and that his fearless spouse is
Denise. They were interviewed to say: “The 12 foot empty Cross
symbol of Jesus has been hard for many to comprehend around
the world. Denise and I are too religious for many of the secular
and too secular for many of the religious. The cross shakes
everything up. I’ve been turned away from leaving my cross at
over half the churches I’d asked to leave my cross at overnight,
but was never turned away from leaving my cross at a bar…
Denise is so often out in front of me and scouting the path. God
knew that I could not make it without her. She is as much a part of
the cross mission as I am. We are one. How awesome to have
been blessed with Denise by my side… Many don’t know where
we fit. I’ve been welcomed and kissed on the cheek by Yasser
Arafat in the middle of war, spent the night at Prime Minister
Begin’s home in the Sinai, received the Sinai Peace medal in
Egypt at the Presidential Palace, met with Pope John Paul II in
Rome, took Billy Graham into the battlefield in Belfast, prayed
with George W. Bush in Midland, Texas, preached on stage
during the 1960’s with Janis Joplin, and Bob Dylan talked with me
in the park as I preached in Miami, and I have been welcomed by
the President of the United Nations General Assembly and
preached at some of the largest churches and stadiums in the
world. On and on I could go.”
In early January of 2025 Blessitt was on a tv show, still explaining
his ministry of simply carrying the cross on his back around the
world. He had retired from the walking part, but not from
appearances. Then, in that month, he died.
In an article Arthur Blessitt summed up his life. “I am a work in
progress. Jesus has been grinding me to powder so that He can
blow me where He will. I’m a saved sinner. Every day I pray and
repent and say “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me
a sinner.” I love the Holy Spirit showing me where I have failed
and welcome God being the Potter molding me and making me
more like Jesus. I want to be convicted of my sins, things I may
do or things I did not do or thoughts that are not from the Mind of
God. I truly love to follow Jesus. I love the Bible, the Word of God.
I quote scriptures as I walk, sing songs to the Lord along the road.
I worship and praise God. Jesus likes my company too. I love to
live in the Presence of God the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. Yet one day soon I shall take my last breath and will step
into the glory of Heaven and onto the streets of Gold to meet my
God the Lord of Hosts.”
23rd SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME HOMILY SEPT. 7
Gospel of this Mass: Matthew 18
Jesus said to his disciples: Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you
agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them."
While this Matthew 18:20 verse is often used today as a
comforting thought for small prayer groups or church attendance,
its original scriptural story is about church discipline, conflict
resolution, and seeking reconciliation within a community. It’s
important for unity, even starting with two or three in the Church.
Matthew’s gospel wants to point out to its listener/reader that we
should not let divisions fester in the body of Christ. We need
solutions to our partings, to get us back in a circle of unity. Let’s
take a look at the context of “where two or three are gathered”
and we see its verses are telling how to deal with sin in the
church; it is a passage on what is commonly called “church
discipline”: “If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their
fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have
won them over. But if they will not listen, go to phase two. Take
one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established
by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to
listen, tell it to the Church authority; and it might lead to some kind
of explusion, excommunication, or condition for re-conciliation.”
Yet the Bible chapter is saying that the people in the Body of
Christ must treat one another with mutual respect. Only after a
lost cause of attempts, is one allowed to treat the person “as a
pagan or a tax collector.” That’s old Jewish language for an
outsider.
Verse 18 then gives assurance that, when this process is
followed, God is working in it: “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind
on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on
earth will be loosed in heaven.” God is seeking avenues for us for
peace and reconciliation with one another, in these
communications and exchanges of believers. The Bible verse
also clearly teaches that the Church has been given authority by
Jesus Christ, and we have special ministries, even Sacraments
for reconciliation, with special agents of the Church, her priests,
for this work of uniting people, ready to be back in the circle.
And then, verses 19–20 give a final assurance: “Again, truly I tell
you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for,
it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or
three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
This hopefully describes a result of people getting to agreement
and then Jesus can be the unity they seek, and Jesus can see the
body of believers “loving one another as I have loved you all.”
The context of “where two or three are gathered together in my
name” does connect back to an Old Testament principle, like
seen in needing “two or three witnesses” in making an accusation
which is listed in Deuteronomy 19:15. Jesus cites the Old
Testament Law that said an accusation from a single individual is
insufficient to bring action in a criminal case. However, two or
three witnesses who agree are sufficient to establish a matter.
The law in Deuteronomy regulated a human court. Jesus applies
this to the “heavenly court.” When the erring brother or sister in
the Church is confronted by “two or three witnesses” and refuses
to repent, these witnesses bring the matter before the Church.
Jesus assures us that, when this happens, it is not just the
witnesses who are bringing action against the wrongdoer, but He
is there with them. Church discipline is sanctioned by both the
Father and the Son. This is important because we live in an age
when it is not fashionable to confront or “judge” anyone’s lifestyle
or actions as sinful. Those who do step forward to call out sin in
the Church can take heart in the fact that they are not acting
alone; Christ is with them in the endeavor.
The process of church discipline calls for “two or three,” and this
seems to be the best application for this verse. The two or three
who gather in Jesus’ name are not coming together in a prayer
meeting or a worship service but in a matter of church discipline.
The two or three witnesses may indeed have prayed for guidance
on how to address the division, hoping to confront the sinner in a
spirit of love and humility, like Galatians 6:1 asks. Blessed are
those moments when unity happens again. Jesus is glorified.
Jesus can be in the midst and center of us all in that manner.