No. 52 Conflicted

If your brother wrongs you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother, but if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be as a Gentile and a tax collector. Matthew 18:15-17

Here we sit all huddled together one enormous body balanced on a tiny Mark, contra monde, blind to each other’s faces. Suddenly and unexpectedly I feel a gut-wrenching jab. I know just what to do. My heart invites the heart of my assailant into a quiet corner to unite.

Mmm, that didn’t work. What went wrong? I squirrel back into the center of the big body to fetch other hearts to join me in my quest for peace and harmony. Of course, they come. They will tell me if I am the one at fault or the other, heart to hearts. I may need adjustment and welcome it. “A scoffer who is rebuked will only hate you; the wise, when rebuked, will love you. Proverbs 9:8” Instead the assailant joins none of us and we all feel more jabs upon jabs.

Mmmm. We hearts squirrel back into the center of the body and ask our Mother to come and help us; surely she will be more successful than we were. The Mother gladly follows us to our quiet corner, to meet the assailant with her seeing eyes.

“Oh!” She discovers, turning to us after a while of talking and loving. “Your assailant  is not my child. Let us return to the Mark and pray for him. He is of the world; let him go in peace. Hush, don’t cry.”