detail of a celebration of a High Mass, from the Book of Hours belonging to Jean Duc de Berry, circa 1416.
For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them.
the Gospel According to Matthew (18:20)
It might be helpful to put this wondrous phrase “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them” in context. As William Barclay and other Scripture scholars have noted, in the Jewish tradition there is a saying about studying the Torah: “Where two or three are together studying Torah, God’s glory is in their midst.” When Jesus “adapts” this saying, he identifies himself with the glory of God. Jesus is the manifestation of the glory of God. To see him is to see the Father (cf. John 14:9). Jesus manifests God’s glory because he reveals to us all the merciful love of the Father.
Msgr. Stuart Swetland (Praying as ‘One Flesh’)
Rabbi Hananiah ben Teradion said: If two sit and there are words of Torah between them, the Divine Presence is between them, as it is written: Then they who feared the Lord spoke to each other, and the Lord hearkened and heard [Malachi 3:16].
Pirkei Avot (3.2b)
detail of The Torah Lesson, by Signiert Scheich, circa 1900.
