Love which transcends tragedy.

The Church is called out of the world to be a community of sons and daughters of God. The texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary relate to this mission. The Prophet Ezekiel is instructed by God to be a sentinel for Israel. A paper by SHIMON BAKON, in the Jewish Bible Quarterly, highlights the importance of this mission to the exiles in Babylon. Paul addresses the Romans about a relationship of the Christian Community with God through Jesus through which Divine Love is enfleshed. This state of being allows love to supercede all the directions of the commandments for moral living. Our experience is that we and other members of the Church fall short of the standard of love capable for disciples of Jesus. Friar Jude Winkler speaks of the importance of fraternal correction which is the process whereby Church members are brought to realize the serious situation of living a lie in moral choices we make. The consequence of excommunication is extreme but Rene Girard sees Jesus letting himself be like the Gentile or tax collector as the image to assure His desire for all to be in the Community. Andy Alexander, S.J reflects on the deep divisions and violence everywhere in our world community and advocates the community prayer as the starting point to petition God for the grace that we might be the Love which transcends tragedy.