MEDITATION TIP —
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time,
September 10, 2023

“Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” (Matthew 18:20)

　For two or three to gather in Jesus' name requires mutual unity and harmony. This requires that we live in harmony and unity without being divided from ourselves. In the same Gospel, Jesus said, "What you join together on earth will be joined together in heaven" (Matthew 18:18), and by joining all the opposing parts of ourselves together, we will be able to maintain internal harmony and eventually find Jesus in harmony with others.

　The things that are in conflict within us are love and anger, hope and anxiety, etc. Love and anger, hope and anxiety, are the things that are in conflict with each other. Love and anger, hope and anxiety, are in fact the same human energy in disguise. If we perceive, acknowledge, and accept these opposites within ourselves, we will find that love and anger, hope and anxiety, are human energies that sound different and harmonize with each other like a symphony played by the whole soul. On the other hand, if we force ourselves to live suppressing our anger and anxiety, the symphony of the whole soul will also be broken.

　“He who can see things as a whole, not in parts, knows that he, too, is in an interconnected and interdependent relationship of feelings, perceptions, thoughts, and consciousness.” (Buddha) For example, a person who is harsh and judges others has not really overcome his or her own faults and weaknesses. That person is merely forcing down such negative elements as anger, envy, and insecurity and suppressing them with violent force. Then he/she turns to others with the same force. The person is projecting the power that holds him or her back onto others. He or she has not yet been crushed by the millstone of flesh-and-blood human reality, so he or she cannot be kind or gentle to others. The Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “It is not the event itself, but the interpretation of it, that makes a person anxious.”

　Kintsugi is a traditional Japanese restoration technique. In this process, broken or chipped pottery is adhered with lacquer and the cracks are decorated with gold powder, transforming it into a uniquely beautiful piece of pottery that is even better than the one before it was broken. In the same way, on the road to the cross, God pieced together the ugliest parts of life in Jesus and revealed sublime beauty in them. So we too can face the ugliest parts of our lives, the parts that seem shameful. We, too, can open our eyes and admit that we ourselves are a broken pot. But it is through the cracks and crevices of our hearts that the true light shines through. Then, embraced and gilded by the symphony that God plays, we can rediscover a new and unique beauty in our ugliness.

 　　　　　(Contributed by Father Akabae)