23rd Sunday: Fraternal Forgiveness

"Ubi Caritas"

Where charity and love are, there God is.
The love of Christ has gathered us into one flock.
Let us exult, and in Him be joyful.
Let us fear and let us love the living God.
And from a sincere heart let us love each other (and Him).

Where charity and love are, there God is.
Therefore, whensoever we are gathered as one:
Lest we in mind be divided, let us beware.
Let cease malicious quarrels, let strife give way.
And in the midst of us be Christ our God.

Where charity and love are, there God is.
Together also with the blessed may we see,
Gloriously, Thy countenance, O Christ our God:
A joy which is immense, and also approved:
Through infinite ages of ages.
Amen.

"Where two or three are gathered in my name,

there am I in the midst of them."

The Word for Sunday: http://usccb.org/bible/readings/090714.cfm

Ez 33: 7-9
2 Rm 13: 8-10
Mt 18: 15-20

There is a wonderful line in the closing scene of the Broadway musical “Fiddler on the Roof.” The villagers fear banishment from their small village of Anatevka in Russia, a place of family and tradition. One of the villagers cries out: “We should defend ourselves! An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth!” In response the wise old Tevya answers with kindness: “That’s very good. And that way, the whole world will be blind and toothless.”

It’s clear the wisdom of Tevya was far more forgiving and productive for the future of his own townsfolk. Violence is not the solution to violence but rather as St. Paul reminds us today in the second reading, we are expected to love one another. Tevya’s solution was to forgive and to live by a higher moral code.

Our Gospel this Sunday lays out for us a most practical example of how Christians of the early Church communities addressed problems they found between themselves. Like a parent who teaches far more by example rather than words, if we live out what we believe then our words are far more effective.

In the early first century of the Christian faith those who followed the new way proposed by Jesus and his followers found themselves having to establish a certain independence from their own past history. The Temple of Jerusalem had been destroyed, Jews were dispersed around the ancient world and the Christian believers had been shunned from the Jewish communities. With all the new Gentile converts Christianity established itself as a distinct and new community.

While many Jewish traditions were still adopted, a new understanding of God and a new level of acceptance and inclusiveness settled on them. Now it was the new law of love which bound them together and lessened the distinctions between people. It was to think with the mind of Christ.

But because we are sinners trying to be saints it was inevitable that conflict and division would arise in these communities. There may have been issues of scandal or disagreements over matters of behavior and pastoral care for the members. Rather than seek equal justice, “an eye for an eye” as it were, the good of the whole and Jesus’ own command to love needed to be applied through practical behavior and the moral principle of forgiveness.

Fraternal correction is one way to describe our responsibility not to police each other but to assist one another in the Christian way of life. We have a certain responsibility to support one another to stay on the mark, to avoid sin, and as a community to be constantly open to receive and live the message of the Christian way. In short, the Bible reminds us that we are not isolated individuals sort of just plodding along by ourselves.

So the Gospel reveals what the early Church had established for the sake of the spiritual health of the whole Christian community. The model of correction begins at the bottom and works its way to the top if necessary.

So the first approach is that of reconciliation between two offended members. “If your brother (sister) sins against you go and tell him his fault.” With love and forgiveness and respect for the other person, we seek reconciliation rather than retribution. It’s not about eyes and teeth but about building bridges between people. The successive levels of awareness end with treating the unreconciled one as a “Gentile or tax collector.”

While this may sound harsh, let’s remember whose Gospel we are reading today – that of the tax collector Matthew. Matthew was called by Jesus to his own inner circle and the gentiles were ultimately treated with acceptance and included in the early Church with love.

This call to fraternal correction is not a permit for gossip or being nosey or for spending our days interfering in my neighbor’s business. Rather, it is an act of love for the sake of each other’s good. To help and guide one another to stay on the mark, to avoid sin, and to collectively live the often demanding moral standards of our Christian way of life.

While the Gospel seems to emphasize verbal communication I think that as important as that is, if we ourselves are not good examples to one another and to the world in which we live, how can we ever expect to be included or forgiven ourselves?

For us Catholic Christians there is no better moment to experience this principle of unity than during our Eucharist celebrations. We are one, all walking on the same road, seeking the mercy of God and expressing our concern for our neighbor we know and for the larger world around us. Only by our courageous witness to the Gospel will Jesus become present in the culture today.

O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption,

look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters,

that those who believe in Christ

may receive true freedom

and an ever lasting inheritance.

(Roman Missal: Collect of Mass)

Insight Scoop

The Church, Excommunication, and Reconciliation

Pope Francis hears confession during a penitential liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 28. (CNS photo/L'Osservatore Romano via Reuters)

A Scriptural Reflection on the Readings for Sunday, September 7, 2014 | Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time | Carl E. Olson

Readings:
• Ez 33:7-9
• Psa 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
• Rom 13:8-10
• Mat 18:

Here’s a simple truth that I’ve learned over the years: A poor understanding of the meaning of “church” inevitably leads to a skewed understanding of many significant issues.

Take, for example, the matter of “excommunication.”

Many people, including quite a few Catholics, think excommunication is simply a way for the Church to control, coerce, and otherwise bully people. It is, they believe, an exercise of power meant to further increase that power, which is possessed by a privileged few. Some insist excommunication is contrary to the teaching and spirit of Jesus; after all, wasn’t He all about love, mercy, and forgiveness? Today’s Gospel reading helps set the record straight, even though the term “excommunication” doesn’t appear.

We cannot rightly appreciate the purpose and nature of Church authority unless we understand that the Church is not a club, a political party, or a merely human institution. The Church was founded by Christ, states the Catechism, for one ultimate purpose: “for the sake of communion with [God’s] divine life.” The Church “is the goal of all things” (CCC 760). As the Body of Christ, the Church exists to redeem man, to guide him into holiness, and to transform him, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into a child of God.

This reading from Matthew 18 contains the second of only two uses of the word ecclesia, or “church”, found in the Gospels. The other occurrence is in Matthew 16:18, in the Gospel reading proclaimed two weeks ago. In both cases, the word “church” is uttered in the context of apostolic authority. In Matthew 16:16-20, Peter—the Rock—was given unique authority as the King’s prime minister or vicar. In today’s reading, the context is that of resolving conflicts within the Church. Jesus provides some practical directives about how Christians should approach someone who has sinned against him. The offender is not just anyone, but a brother in Christ, and the response is to take place within the family and household of God, the Church.

This section, it should be noted, follows after Jesus’ declaration that we must be like children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven (18:3), that it would better to lose an eye or limb than to be thrown into eternal fire (18:8-9), and that the heavenly Father rejoices in the return of the one stray sheep (18:12-14). The stakes are eternal and the struggle against sin can be fierce. Being a child of God and a member of His household is not easy; on the contrary, it can be trying. It might even involve rebuke and discipline.

So the steps described by Jesus are not aimed at revenge or retribution, but at reconciliation. When we sin against a brother in Christ, we harm the unity of the Body of Christ. Our sin poisons our souls and our familial bond with others. Which is why it needs to be addressed, first by one-on-one communication, then by a small group. This is rooted in the Law, which declares that “a judicial fact shall be established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses” (Deut 19:15).

If those attempts fail the matter should come before the Church. The possibility of losing communion with the Church is meant to awaken the sinner to the serious straits he is navigating in spiritual blindness. Christ “threatens the one punishment,” observed St. John Chrysostom, “to prevent the other from happening.” Better to suffer temporal punishment than eternal separation from God. “Thus, by fearing both the rejection from the church and the threat of being bound in heaven, he may become better behaved.”

The Catechism sums it up: “Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God” (CCC 1445). If we believe the Church was founded by Christ and has been granted His authority, we should appreciate that she works to keep us in right relationship with Him.

Yes, excommunication is a severe penalty, but it is a medicinal penalty, meant to cure us from what might destroy our souls.

(This "Opening the Word" column originally appeared in the September 7, 2008, edition of Our Sunday Visitor newspaper.)

Regnum Christi

Love for Lost Sheep

U. S. A. | SPIRITUAL LIFE | SPIRITUALITY

September 7, 2014. Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 18: 15-20

"If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them."

Introductory Prayer: Lord Jesus, I come to you once again in prayer. Even though I cannot see you, my faith tells me that you are present. You are ready to listen and desire to speak with me. Your presence gives me hope, because you are the all-powerful God, the creator of heaven and earth. You are the source of all that is good in my life. Nothing happens to me without your knowing and permitting it. My hope leads me to love. I want to be one with you in mind and heart, identifying myself with your will and your standards.

Petition: Lord, help me to grow in my love for the Church and for souls.

1. Go to the One Who Sins Against You: Today’s text is part of a larger discussion that includes the preceding parable of the lost sheep. God wants us to love as he loves, even loving those whose sins may have directly harmed us in some way. This is hard. Sometimes we are not particularly forgiving and merciful towards those who sin. We can easily look down on them and imagine that we are much better than they, or we can become impatient that they are not like us. When someone sins against us, we have to look beyond our pain. Indeed, we have to embrace that pain in the redemptive way that Christ shows on the cross and in the Eucharist. We should not write that person off as lost, turn our back or walk away. We should go to the one who sins against us and seek in love to bring him home to the Father’s love.

2. Reconcile Them to the Church: God’s love for the fallen sinner not only should be evident in our lives, but also should live in our local churches. Is our parish open and inviting to sinners, or has it become the last refuge for the saved? Does our church go and seek that lost sinner, or do we expect the lost sheep to find its own way to us? God wants us to go to the lost sinner and seek to bring him home to the Church. This means that we need to live as missionaries, as evangelists going out on the street corners and public squares, wherever the lost sinners may be. God loves them and wants to reach them through us. We are his hands and his feet; he wants to speak his words through our lips. How does God want me personally to become involved in this mission of the Church in my local parish?

3. I Am in the Midst of You: As we go out to fulfill Christ’s mission toward lost sheep, he goes with us. We are not alone. He promised his disciples that he would be with them to the ends of the earth. This should give us confidence. Jesus is with us, and he is going to help transmit his love for some lost soul through us, through our words and gestures. He will give us the strength to carry on his work. There is also some benefit when we gather together with others in the Church as well. Jesus is present in the Church, where two or three are gathered in his name. We are with him to degree we are united to the Church. As we become committed and involved in our local parish, we are closer to Jesus.

Conversation with Christ: Lord, move me to conquer my fears and complexes, my laziness and indifference, and to become engaged in the Church’s mission to save souls. Don’t let me blindly walk by the ones you love, the ones you shed your blood to redeem. Don’t let my heart harden against them, but help me to go to them with your love and forgiveness.

Resolution: I will find a way to become engaged in the Church’s mission of evangelization.

By Father Paul Campbell, LC

The Sin of Keeping Silent

Dr. Mark Giszczak

shutterstock_111340070

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
First Reading: Ezekiel 33:7-9
http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090714.cfm

We have security guards for a reason. If an attacker shows up and the security guard flees to save his own skin instead of warning the people he is responsible for guarding, then what use is he? In the ancient world, watchmen would patrol the walls of city a day and night, scanning the horizon for an enemy’s approach. If they disregarded their duty, the whole city would be in danger.

Context

In this Sunday’s reading from Ezekiel, we find a repetition of the prophet’s original call (Ezek 3:17-19 parallels 33:7-9). God appointed him as a watchman, to warn the people of the “sword” of the Lord’s judgment. His job was to sound the alarm, to “blow the trumpet,” to warn the people to flee from the wrath of God. Even though God’s judgment falls on the sinful person for his or her sins, the watchman is responsible for warning them of the coming judgment.

Responsibility

Warning is a strange responsibility because it is by necessity occasional, meaning you only need to warn on rare occasion. This is why security work can be very difficult. The vast majority of days are humdrum, run-of-the-mill, monotonous, and safe days, where no serious threats show up. But a security guard, a watchman, is employed for those rare times when the stability and safety of a business, school, or other place, is in danger. It takes energy and commitment to keep alert during all the long night-time hours in order to be ready, if the need arise, to sound the alarm.

Blood on Whose Hands?

If the watchman does his job in the ancient city when an enemy is approaching and blows his trumpet loudly and clearly for all to hear, then he’s done his job and can then take up arms or flee for the hills with impunity. To anyone who fails to heed his warning, we can say, “his blood shall be on himself” (Ezek 33:5). But if the watchman fails in his duty and flees without warning others, he might live, but he will have committed a terrible sin. Many people could die because of his negligence. Their blood will be on his hands. In fact, the Lord tells Ezekiel that if he fails to be an alarm-sounding watchman to the wicked, “his blood I will require at your hand” (Ezek 33:8 ESV). However, if Ezekiel does his job, the Lord tells him, “you will have delivered your soul” (33:9 ESV).

A New Testament Word of Warning

We remember St. Paul for proclaiming the good news, but he also proclaimed some bad news: “the wrath of God is coming” (Col 3:6). Jesus himself warned of the coming wrath (Matt 3:7||Luke 3:7) and St. Paul picks up the theme repeatedly. Wrath comes upon the disobedient (Eph 5:6), the ungodly (Rom 1:18), and the wrongdoer (Rom 13:4). It is God’s vengeance (Rom 12:19), from which we hope to be saved (Rom 5:9; 1 Thess 5:9). Just like the sword of the Lord, which Ezekiel warned about, the wrath of God comes against those who reject him. Paul, as an evangelist, is a New Testament prophet, warning us about the coming wrath, the final judgment of God. He even alludes to Ezekiel’s vocabulary when he preaches in Macedonia. After his message is rejected at a synagogue, he says “Your blood be upon your heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Act 18:6 RSV). Paul also reflects on his responsibility to warn by saying, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16). He is a New Testament watchman, called by God to proclaim a warning of coming wrath, and the gospel message of deliverance.

Hearing and Speaking

You and I don’t have the national responsibility of a prophet like Ezekiel, or the foundational importance of an apostle like Paul, but we are responsible, as Christians, to proclaim the message of salvation, which includes a warning. In fact, Pope Francis reminds us that evangelizing is a “daily responsibility” (Evangelii Gaudium, sec. 127). He describes the personal evangelization which each of us can do: “In this preaching, which is always respectful and gentle, the first step is personal dialogue, when the other person speaks and shares his or her joys, hopes and concerns for loved ones, or so many other heartfelt needs. Only afterwards is it possible to bring up God’s word” (sec. 128). So proclaiming the Gospel need not be a passionate confrontation, but rather it can often be a delightful way of relating to a friend. We usually need to earn interpersonally the right to be heard before our word of warning and joy can have an effect.

The Sin of Silence

If we do not speak out against the injustices around us, we can find ourselves falling into what Pope Francis calls “comfortable and silent complicity” (sec. 211). He emphasizes that true faith cannot but speak out. It “always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it” (sec. 183). If we hide the light under a bushel basket, then no one can see it (see Matt 5:15). If we fail to speak, to blow the trumpet of warning, to announce both the wrath and the salvation of God, then we abdicate our duty as followers of Jesus. Exactly how to speak is a matter for deep consideration, debate and can be different depending on one’s personal calling and audience. One Protestant minister, D. T. Niles, put it nicely when he said that evangelism “is one beggar telling another beggar where to get food.” To not speak, to hide the light, to stay silent would be to let another person go hungry.

If we are to be good watchmen, good security guards, then our job is not just to turn tail and flee from danger, but to “go out to the highways and hedges” (Luke 14:23) and blow the trumpet, to sound the alarm, to bring the word “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Silence is not an option.

Scripture Speaks: Mercy and Justice

Gayle Somers

shutterstock_130880153

Previously in this Gospel, Jesus has spoken about authority in His Church. Today, He shows us how it works.

Gospel (Read Mt 18:15-20)

Today, Jesus teaches His disciples about life in the Church He intends to build. Earlier (Mt 16), He established Peter as its head, giving him the “keys” to the kingdom. Now, He addresses various situations that will undoubtedly arise in His community of followers as they seek to live the new life of that kingdom.

“If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.” In these few words, we see an approach to wrongdoing that is countercultural, then and now. He refers to His disciples as “brothers” to each other (as we are to Him). He knows the human heart well, of course, so He knows that brothers will sin against each other. What should Christians do when that happens? In one breath, Jesus tells us the appropriate action and its ultimate purpose. The sin is not to be ignored. After all, Jesus came to build the kingdom of heaven on earth. Sin is an outbreak of darkness in a kingdom of light; it cannot be glossed over. Sin is the antithesis of the happiness and health of the Gospel, so it must be addressed. However, the point of the exposure of sin by one brother against another is not retribution, shame, or vindication. The purpose of the confrontation is reconciliation, a return of the sinner to the bosom of his family in faith: “… you have won over your brother.” This goal of brotherly love is precisely what makes this teaching so difficult. Why?

When we are wronged, our first impulse is not usually reconciliation. We want to keep a distance from the offender, to move away instead of toward him. From there, we want to tell everyone we know how wronged we have been. After that, there’s a desire to get even, to hurt in the same way we’ve been hurt. In a truly countercultural way, Jesus interrupts this normal response. He helps us understand that because we are a community of love, our biggest concern should be the return of our brother to the behavior of love. So, we are to confront “him alone” with the problem first, hoping to quietly restore him to familial fellowship. That teaches us to be as concerned for his welfare as we are for our own.

If that doesn’t work, we are to take “one or two others” along as witnesses that a wrong has certainly been committed. The great value of needing witnesses to a wrong is that it prevents us from making frivolous charges against a brother. There is still restraint here, still a desire to restore the brother to his Christian family. If the brother “refuses to listen,” always the distinguishing sign of sin to the Jews, then the whole matter must be referred to the larger expression of the Christian family, the Church. In all this, the goal is to win back the lost brother. If he refuses to listen “even to the Church,” then he is to receive what, in all his refusals to “listen,” he really wants: to live outsideof the covenant family of God. This is the final severe mercy extended to him. He will have the painful experience of a kind of exile from the happiness and health of the covenant community. Is this done out of hatred or a loss of hope? To suggest that would be an entirely illogical conclusion to what we have seen in these verses: a measured process that always aims at reconciliation. No, the exile from the presence of God’s community on earth is meant to make the sinner long for “home.” In addition, Jesus says that whatever the disciples, who are given His authority, bind or loose on earth is also bound or loosed in heaven. Thus, the lost brother faces the very real possibility of an eternal separation from God’s presence, by his own choice of refusing to “listen” to those who speak for God. Strong medicine indeed!

When we read through the rest of the New Testament, we see this principle at work in the early Church. St. Paul routinely refers to it (read 1 Cor 5:1-5), and the Church, over time, has developed it into her teaching about excommunication (read CCC 1461-63). In our own day, as impatiently litigious as we are, it is good to be reminded that Jesus Himself laid out the Church’s slow and seemingly “soft” method of confronting brothers with their sins. Jesus’ primary interest was the sinner’s restoration, for the return of the lost sheep. That can be inconvenient for us, can’t it, when the world outside the Church clamors for immediate, swift justice or even vengeance. Do we have ears to hear?

Possible Response: Lord Jesus, please give me the courage I need to accept Your way of confronting sin in my brothers. I usually care more for justice than mercy.

First Reading (Read Eze 33:7-9)

Ezekiel was a prophet during the time of Israel’s exile in Babylon, an exile brought upon them by covenant unfaithfulness. God called him “son of man,” a title Jesus frequently used for Himself in the Gospels. The commission God gave Ezekiel was clear: “… dissuade the wicked from his way.” If he failed to speak, then he would incur the same guilt as the wicked. If, however, he warned the wicked, even without success, he would “save” himself. It is good for us to ponder the heavy burden of responsibility placed on God’s prophets. Ezekiel’s job was not to cause repentance but to preach God’s Word, making repentance possible for the sinner. In the Church today, our prophets are the Pope and the bishops in communion with him. Part of their pastoral work is to warn us against wickedness, to speak out about it. Each of us has a choice whether to listen or not. Do we have ears to hear?

Possible Response: Heavenly Father, please give me ears to hear correction when I need it.

Psalm (Read Ps 95:1-2, 6-9)

We should not be surprised to find that today’s responsorial psalm has a warning in it: “If today you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” The psalmist reminds us of the need for humility as we understand ourselves to be God’s flock, sheep who need guidance. It is no coincidence that our bishops carry shepherd’s staffs, a symbol of their God-given responsibility to bind and to loose, to warn of wickedness, to feed the lambs. In both the Gospel and the first reading, the sinner’s refusal to listen ends badly. In the psalm, God speaks directly to us: “Harden not your hearts.” Refusal to listen to God (in our consciences or in His Voice today, the Church) leads to a heart of stone. Do we have ears to hear?

Possible response: The psalm is, itself, a response to the other readings. Read it again prayerfully to make it your own.

Second Reading (Read Rom 13:8-10)

St. Paul explains why the attempt to restore and be reconciled with a brother who has sinned is always the goal when fellowship has been broken: “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” If a brother sins against us, he has stepped out of love. Our response to him must be governed by one truth: “Love does no evil to the neighbor, hence love is the fulfillment of the law.” If we are wronged, how foolish it would be to do wrong ourselves. Our desire for our brother should be the same as our desire for ourselves: to live the behavior of love and so be true children of our Father. Jesus shocked His followers by telling them to love even their enemies. How much more should we be willing to love a lost brother back into the fold of God’s love. Do we have ears to hear?

Possible response: Lord Jesus, I need your grace to resist my first response to being wronged. It’s hard to love rather than stew in judgment.

One Bread, One Body

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All Issues > Volume 30, Issue 5

<< Sunday, September 7, 2014 >>

23rd Sunday Ordinary Time

Ezekiel 33:7-9
Romans 13:8-10
View Readings

Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9
Matthew 18:15-20
Similar Reflections

"APPOINTED WATCHMAN"

"You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear Me say anything, you shall warn them for Me." —Ezekiel 33:7

When we see someone sinning, we must repent of our own sins (Mt 7:5), petition God to give life to the sinner (1 Jn 5:16), and warn the person sinning. If we don't do this, we might be held responsible for the sinner's death (Ez 33:8).

If the person sinning is a Christian, we should warn him in a personal conversation just between the two of us (Mt 18:15). This usually works, especially if we don't tell anyone else, even our spouse, about the sin. If this personal warning doesn't result in repentance, we should meet with the person sinning and two or three witnesses (Mt 18:16-17). This will usually clear up any misunderstanding and be a stronger call to repentance. If this doesn't work, we should refer the situation to the Church (Mt 18:17). After informing the person sinning, we should refer it to the leader, pastor, bishop, and/or apostolic delegate. Their responsibility is to take it from there. Then we should repent of our sins and petition the Lord to give life to the sinner (see 1 Jn 5:16). "Again I tell you, if two of you join your voices on earth to pray for anything whatever, it shall be granted you by My Father in heaven" (Mt 18:19).

Prayer: Father, may I love people enough to tell them the truth (Eph 4:15). May I repent of the selfishness of permissiveness.

Promise: "Love never wrongs the neighbor, hence love is the fulfillment of the law." —Rm 13:10

Praise: Alleluia! Because we believe in Jesus risen, we will be saved (Rm 10:9) and be risen from the dead! Alleluia!

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