Keeping People from God

Gospel: Matthew 23: 13-23

How often are we like the Pharisees in today's Gospel portion. Consider: the clerics of the Church state that a person has to share the same faith in the Eucharist as we do in order to receive.  One can find such faith in seeing the devotion with which people of many different denominations receive communion, faith greater than that of many Catholics and certainly than almost any seven year old who receives for the first time.

Then it is said that in order to receive communion they must be fully initiated into the faith before they can receive communion, something we do not require a cradle Catholic to do.  The burdens we create in order to prevent people from having access to God!  The things we will do in order to perpetuate the lack of full communion that exists among Christians throughout the world!  How very similar we are to the Pharisees!

So today is a day for us to reflect on how it is that we prevent people from having access to God and full communion with one another.  How might we go about being more open to others, more accommodating and welcoming?  Who today needs me to provide a bridge for them in their journey of faith?  What bridge do I need to build in my own journey of faith and communion with other people in the world?