Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 127
Reading 1
EZ 33:7-9
Thus says the LORD:
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.
If I tell the wicked, “O wicked one, you shall surely die, ”
and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way,
the wicked shall die for his guilt,
but I will hold you responsible for his death.
But if you warn the wicked,
trying to turn him from his way,
and he refuses to turn from his way,
he shall die for his guilt,
but you shall save yourself.
Responsorial Psalm
PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
R. (8) If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
R. If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Reading 2
ROM 13:8-10
Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, ”
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.
Alleluia
2 COR 5:19
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
MT 18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that ‘every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
If he refuses to listen even to the church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you,
if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS,
As Christians, regardless of where we are in our journey of faith, we have a responsibility to ourselves, our families, and everyone with whom we have contact to conduct ourselves in a way that is aligned to the teachings of Sacred Scripture, The Teachings of the Church, and to the Sacred Traditions put forth through the Church. All of these things come together under the umbrella of what is known as The Deposit of Faith: The Revelations of God. All that has been given to us and told to us by God flows from this and, at the center of this, is Jesus Christ. We as receivers of this from Jesus Christ are then obligated to be open to it and to spread the Good News to all of God’s Creation. Through the Prophet Ezekiel we are set as watchmen for the entire world and stewards of God’s Creation. We, through our birthright as Children of God, know much of what is required of us and have the capability of learning so much more if only we are open to what God is telling us constantly through His words and overall influence. We are commanded to speak out about these things, to do what is right, and to correct that which is seen by God as injustice in the world. Staying silent while being witnesses to wrong is not an option for us. Our faith needs to be put into our words and into our actions.
Even though this is seemingly a command from God it should not be treated that way. It should be seen as instruction and a new way of looking at things through the lenses of what God wants for us and His vision of the world. It can be argued that much of our lives have been spent seeing things and interpreting things through the needs and desires of society and the things that benefitted us; mostly in a very selfish way. God is constantly trying to show us a different path. Through all things at His disposal, God is tryingto point us in the right direction and the path that will bring us true joy and true satisfaction. He does all things for our benefit, including using us as instruments of salvation. When we respond to the instructions of God then we will be working with God instead of against Him; receiving all the gifts from that relationship. He has an unbounded love for us and has set us on the pinnacle of His creation; wanting us to experience it to its fullest as we journey through this life. The journey that we are on is best defined as a journey to God. Even though He is with us we have not yet adjoined with him completely because, through the exercise of our free will, we have consciously and subconsciously set up barriers between us and Him while tearing ourselves away from His loving embrace. God offers us a way around these barriers and a way to repair the tears we have brought about.
The Apostle Paul sums it up in his Letter to the Romans. All of God’s Law, all of His instruction, and all that encompasses the universe can be described with one word: Love. God loves us unconditionally and we, as His children, are asked to love Him the same way. We are also reminded that all that we say and do must be executed with that same love in mind. We should love God and love all of our brothers and sisters the same way. When we do things out of love and for love then there really is nothing that can go wrong. Even the bad things that we experience in life can produce a good result because nothing bad comes from God. God, being in relationship with us, then influences us in a good way which minimizes and ultimately eliminates the bad. Society and Satan are the ones that bring about bad things while it is God that conquers these things. Loving our neighbor and doing things out of love centers God in our lives and reveals God to all those people who we come into contact with. We become vehicles of God’s love.
We as Christians are no better than anyone. We are just in a different place and possess a divine wisdom that, when used properly, will heal us and have the capability of healing the world. With this wisdom comes responsibility and expected conduct. We need to remind ourselves that the instructions and guidance that we receive is a gift from God and that the only requirement of that gift is that we use it for our benefit and the benefit of all those whom we interact with. It should serve as the foundation of our lives and define us regarding who we are and what we aspire to be. Knowing that God loves us unconditionally we must then use this gift in a way that expresses our unconditional love for those whom we reveal it to. There should be no judgment. There should only be correction done in a loving way. Those who resist this should still be loved and approached with empathy for we were once like them and are always under the threat of going back into our old ways but by the grace and mercy of God. When confronted with temptation and sin we are reminded to return to what was revealed to us and let it influence our decision-making process. God loves us and will show us the way if we let Him. In much the same manner those whom we strive to reveal this too need to be shown the same tenderness and mercy that God shows us so that the Spirit of God can be revealed to them.
We have an advocate in Jesus Christ. We have The Holy Spirit as our paraclete. We have God as our Father. Christ shows us the way while the Love of God encourages us forward and the Father welcomes us. The Holy Trinity is always at work within us and the more that we examine that relationship then the more revelation we will encounter. We will continuously receive instruction as long as we listen and not block God out. This instruction will always benefit us in a positive way and will produce positive results without fail. Not much is guaranteed in life without the influence of God but everything is guaranteed with God. There are not many things that are definite in life except that which comes with God. It would behoove us to listen to what He has to say because He obviously knows better. In His infinite wisdom He has appointed us His watchmen over His creation; commissioning us to invite others into relationship with him and give the same instruction which we have received. We are healed and loved when we do this and then are capable of healing and loving others all in the name of God.
Deacon Tom
MY BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Christian Love is a powerful force that has the capability to transform lives and to lift up everything and everyone, regardless of the circumstances. Its origin is from God and, because of that; there is nothing else that can ever defeat it. With this love comes a great responsibility. We all have experienced at some point in our lives the feeling of God’s Love. We felt His presence and we were comforted. That feeling is something that cannot be forgotten because that is the only reason why we exist today: God loves us so much that He created us, made Himself known to us, and only asks to be loved in return. When we react to the presence of God’s Love we are actually making it stronger, sending it forth into His creation. People and events that we interact with and participate in are supernaturally influenced by our presence. Those who have not thought about their own relationship with God or have not reacted to the experience of God’s Love become witnesses to it through us. This always brings about a chain of events as what came forth from God into us continues to flow like a raging river in spring after the ice has melted.
In the Sacred Scriptures today we are given clear instructions on how we are to actually spread this love. The Apostle Paul reminds us that all of the Commandments from God can be summed up by just loving our neighbor regardless of what he or she has done at that moment that may cause us to deem them unworthy of our love. It is kind of ironic that we are possessors of God’s Love and have acknowledged it as Christians, further understanding that we never deserved it, yet we still on occasion deny our love to someone else. Not only do we deny our love which is arguably inferior to that of God’s, but we then can actually refuse to spread God’s Love, something that isn’t ours in the first place! We beg God to overlook our faults every day and to forgive our sins every day. Why can’t we do for others that we beg God to do for us?
We are sinners and continue to sin. Our refusal of love for our fellow man is another example of it. By struggling against our inclination to judge others more harshly than ourselves, we can allow God to actually love us more. Forgiving and teaching others about their wrongs helps us to do atonement for our wrongs. This is what penance is all about: making up for our sins, past and present, by healing others through tender instruction and admonition.
Every person knows when he or she has sinned. We all know that we are all broken. In our faulted nature, we are more comfortable hiding our weaknesses. Those weaknesses, which are sins, can become our greatest strengths when they are revealed and then effort is made not to do them anymore. Everyone is waiting to be healed and everyone has the capability of being a healer. It is the way the process is approached. And the best way to approach it is with love.
Deacon Tom
My sisters and brothers in Christ,
One of the most difficult things in life is correcting another person. Yes, there are people who seem always to be correcting others—but that type of person rarely has any lasting success. What the Lord God wants from us is to find ways to draw others to HIM, the Lord God, by the way of correction. That is a divine task.
The first reading today is from the Prophet Ezekiel. He was told by the Lord to correct others—and he did not want to do it. God told him bluntly: if you do not tell others their faults, then you are responsible for their deaths. This is really strong language—and yet so needed today. None of us wants to tell others their faults or that what they are doing is against what God asks us to do! For instance, if we are speaking to a young couple that is living together and not married in the Church—who wants to say that out loud? And there are so many situations like that in the area of sexual morality. Our Church teaches clearly that sexual activity between two people is only moral when that activity is between a man and a woman who are married in the Church. Clearly our culture and even many of us Catholics are not comfortable saying that out loud today.
But it is not only sexual morality that is a challenge today. We have challenges in the way we treat immigrants, challenges in the way that businesses make profits, challenges in the ways in which we discuss differences in politics and differences in religion; challenges in our desires for money and power, and in so many areas of our lives. We have developed, however, a “live and let live” morality by which we can avoid any conflicts but also avoid talking about what is right and what is wrong.
Our second reading today is from the Letter to the Romans. In this letter today we hear that love is the fulfillment of the law. Yet today we often think of love as simply feeling good about one another. Love is lived today very much as a “live and let live” kind of way. Hardly anyone of us would think of a Prophet saying difficult things as a loving person. Even modern prophets can say harsh and difficult things, but we rarely think of them as “loving.” Instead, we are careful to think of them as prophet and not as people of love.
The readings today are so clear in this teaching: if you do not correct those in error, you cannot be loving them. Parents often correct their small children almost automatically and know that it is a loving thing to do. Once a child gets older, parents have to make a choice to correct their children, especially when they know that the child will not accept correction easily. And when we are in the presence of adults, we often tell ourselves that it is not our duty to correct anyone!
So we come to today’s Gospel from Saint Matthew. The passage we have today is all about how to deal with a neighbor who has wronged us. But we can also look at this from the other side where we are the one wronging someone else. It works both ways. The challenge is: how to bring about reconciliation with a deep awareness of the truth of the situation. All of us must learn that we offend others at times, that we misjudge others at times, that we take advantage of others at times. If we can come to recognize our own brokenness and lack of love towards others, then we will find it much easier to deal with the brokenness and lack of love in others.
So our first challenge today is to accept that we are broken and need correction. Only within that context can we see God’s love. Then in God’s love we might be able to speak the truth to our own culture and to others in our lives.
Your brother in the Lord,
Abbot Philip
King Henry II of England was frustrated by his conflicts with Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1170. He made a famous cry “Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?” Since then, this phrase has been invoked to express the idea that an individual can be a thorn in the side of his or her more powerful adversary. It was one of the most Googled phrases during the investigation of the Trump administration over its possible links with Russia.
It is never an easy job to be a speaker of inconvenient truths. Yet Scripture today makes this very demand on us as a matter of necessity and as part and parcel of being a believer. So, there is no avoidance of doing one of our most difficult duties, if we are to be faithful to our mission. We are called to be ‘meddlesome priests or prophets’ who live and speak the Word who is the Way, the Truth and the Life for the world.
In the first reading, Ezekiel was called to be a sentry to the House of Israel and to be God’s mouthpiece. He was to watch for danger and sound a warning when it appeared. Ezekiel lived during one of the most tumultuous times in Israel before the exile. The Jewish monarchy had declined and the nation had fractured. The ruling elite had no concern for the poor, but instead manipulated the political chaos to their advantage. It was in this abysmal situation that Ezekiel was commissioned to speak God’s Word. He was not afraid to be the meddlesome prophet who challenged the power that be. His message of conversion to truth, justice and integrity of life was as unpopular then as it is unpopular now.
Ezekiel’s message reveals the uncomfortable truths; it does not challenge only the rulers, kings and high priests. It also challenges us to look at ourselves and discover those uncomfortable truths that we hide behind our appearances. Like a sentinel, Ezekiel sounds a warning; he blows a whistle to awake our consciences. He questions the status quo; he challenges the system; he calls us individually to remove the obstacles and barriers that stand in the way of God’s plan for humanity.
Matthew picks up from the Ezekiel warning and enlarges it so that the responsibility of calling to repentance falls on more than one person, eventually on the community. In Jesus’ time, people lived in small and closely knitted communities and not in mega-cities like we do today. Thus, the idea of fraternal or communal correction was quite familiar to them. In early Christian community, it would have been crucial to resolve internal disputes and ensure harmony of a common life for all. Today’s Gospel addresses difficult circumstances that confront the life of a community. When a brother or a sister strays, it is the duty of the whole community to restore him/her. In effect, we are called to be our brother’s/sister’s keepers. In our increasingly litigious society, Jesus provides us with the alternative Christian model of fraternal correction, care, accompaniment.
Dear brothers and sisters,
It is not easy for us to be the meddlesome prophets and to speak the inconvenient truths of the Gospel. Yet, that is our calling even as we were baptised and anointed like Christ as priest, prophet and king. We need to see, judge and act in a way that brings the Gospel to life. In particular, we need to be the voice for the voiceless, the force for justice and equity, the defence for the defenceless and vulnerable. St Paul reminds us that we should avoid getting into debt, except the debt of mutual love. We owe that debt especially to the poor, the needy and the suffering around us and beyond.
Yesterday, I was privileged to launch the Australian Bishops’ Social Justice Statement for this year. It is entitled “Everyone’s Business: Developing an Inclusive and Sustainable Economy”. In this document, we follow the lead of Pope Francis in calling for an economic system that is at the service of all, particularly the poor. As a nation, we have enjoyed much prosperity and become one of the wealthiest countries. Yet, the gap is growing not smaller, but wider. The most vulnerable including the lowest paid, those living on income support, those at risk of homelessness, and Indigenous Australians have it tougher than ever before.
Jesus teaches us to be faithful to our mission as agents of the Gospel. We are meant to be counter-cultural insofar as we dare to name and critique the anti-Gospel attitudes and practices around us. Let us pray for the prophetic courage to live and speak the inconvenient truths, in season and out of season. Let us pray that as we are immersed in truth, justice and integrity of life we become truly salt of the earth and light for the world by the transforming power of Christ.
Saint Canice’s Church Kataamba
‘Crazy Lady’
I heard a lot of angry shouting as I walked into the grocery store at 7 a.m.
Just inside the door, right next to the coffee stand, a very large woman was yelling at
two much shorter men in suits (store managers, I presume). They might have been
smaller, but they were out-shouting her:
“Go now! Get out! You are not welcome here!”
“Do not ever come back. We’re calling the police.”
My first thought was:
'Uh. Oh. Should I leave? Is this safe?'
But I had shopping to do. It was none of my business. And I was curious. While
checking out, I could see the woman walking across the parking lot to God-knowswhere. I said:
“Bit of excitement this morning, huh?”
The checkout clerk nodded, obviously annoyed with the woman:
“Yeah. Two mornings in a row. We think she’s crazy. Probably drunk, too.
It’s so sad, really.”
I left, shaking my head. But on the way home, I started wondering about all that went
down. Lots of anger. Head-to-head confrontation. (Through masks, no less.) Everyone
thinking about themselves. The store managers angry and worried about their
customers. The clerk highly annoyed. Me, concerned with my own safety and comfort.
And the woman; was she really crazy? Or drunk? Or just sad? Sad as in lonely and
depressed, perhaps. …OK. A little crazy, too.
But what if, instead of just thinking of ourselves, one of us had stepped up with a
coffee, maybe a donut, and a word of comfort? Maybe sat down with her for a few
minutes to find out what was causing her outrage.
It might have helped, or not. But neither did the shouting. And, somehow, I think a
little concern could have/would have made a difference. If not for her, at least for me.
But, when God said, love your neighbor, he couldn’t have meant the crazy old lady in
the grocery store. Could He?
We’re keeping you in our prayers. Please keep us in yours.
(Maybe the Crazy Lady, too.)
Helen and David
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