FACE  TO  FACE 

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 19^th Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Face to Face.”

Today’s first reading says that Moses had a face to face relationship with God.

What would that be like?

For starters, I can only take it on face value - that the author of today’s first reading from Chapter 34 of Deuteronomy is saying that Moses’ relationship with God was like a face to face relationship between two people.

It’s eyeball to eyeball. It’s intimate.  It’s close….

However, where it differs is that one part of the relationship is a human relating to God in a human way and God relating to one of us - in a human way. The scriptures are also  saying, nobody else but Moses had such a relationship with God.

I would think Adam and Eve had an equivalent relationship; with God.  They walked with God in the cool of the evening.

Of course this is poetry, this is imaginative writing, this is an author’s way of trying to get us to see a relationship with God  in a very human way.

The Book of Exodus is telling us that Moses face began to radiate, shine, as a result of his face to face relationship with God.

I would think that the impact of any great relationship with another person - should show up in our face, in our eyes, in our step, and body movement.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Let me jump to today’s gospel - while keeping in mind this idea of having a face to face relationship with God. [Cf. Matthew 18: 15-20.]

The gospel tells us that sometimes we don’t get along with each other or with the community. The gospel tells us that sometimes we have to go face to face with each other - with folks we have trouble with. The gospel has the hope that brothers and brothers and sisters and sisters - the whole community - that we’ll all work to live with each other in peace, that we’ll pray with and for each other, that we’ll respect each other - face to face.

Who are the people in my life that I should be in communion with face to face with? Whom should I be having a face to face relationship with because we want to get along better with each other.  When was the last time we were looking - really looking into the eye of another? 

Jesus said we can tell a lot by the eyes. I think we know this, but ….

Maybe we are neglecting - our brothers and sisters - walking right by them every day.

I know I need to hear this message.

EYE TO EYE, FACE TO FACE

As I think about all this, I know I need to think more about communication and communion with others.

I think that I think better, when I’m trying to say something to another - and I don’t look them right in the eye - face to face. - because that sometimes gets in the way of what I’m trying to communicate or figure out. I’m not sure about this - and the whole process of communication. It’s a lifetime tennis match.

How about you? How do you communicate best? How about cell phone to cell phone, e-mail to e-mail, smart phone to smart phone. Is there better communication going on when people see each other on their phones?

A test would be: what color eyes does the other have?

I remember I took an old photograph of my mother from way back and brought it to Macy’s to have them enhance it. I wanted them to remove a person in the picture - so it would just be a picture of my mom. So I wanted to fix it up, have it framed  and then give it to my mother for Mother’s Day. It was a sepia colored photograph.

So I went to the counter and the lady asked if I wanted the picture colored.  I didn’t know they could do such a thing.

The lady at the counter looked me the eye and asked, “What color is your mother’s eye.

I had no clue.

So she said, “I’ll make them yours.”

To be honest,  I  didn’t even know what color eyes I had.

I gave the picture to my mom.

When my sister Mary looked at it, she said, “Mom doesn’t have green brown eyes.”

CONCLUSION

For starters, when I’m looking at some one, I need to look at them face to      face, see what color eyes they have.

And - Ooops! Does I know what color eyes God has?