23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time—September 7, 2014
Being responsible for others in charity
Purpose: We bear a responsibility toward
others. We must help them to avoid wrong, and encourage them in choosing the
good. All of this we must do in love. St Gregory the Great provides an example
of this.
Readings: Ezekiel 33:7-9; Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; Romans
13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20
http://usccb.org/bible/readings/090714.cfm
http://usccb.org/bible/readings/090714.cfm
Earlier this week, the Church celebrated the feast of St.
Gregory the Great, who has some interesting and insightful words on our first
reading today.
In the first reading, the Lord speaks of the role of a
prophet as a watchman. A watchman is, as the name suggests, a lookout, someone
who keeps watch for approaching danger. He warns people of impending danger so
that they can take appropriate action.
Like a watchman, the prophet Ezekiel must also warn people
of approaching dangers—spiritual dangers. He is given the responsibility of
warning people about what is right and wrong, about what brings them closer to
God, and what leads rhem away from God. If they heed his words, they will be
safe. If they ignore his words, they are held responsible for their actions.
But if Ezekiel fails to warn the people, and neglects his responsibility, then
he is held responsible for their fate.
This passage has often been applied to the responsibility
that bishops, priests, and deacons—preachers of the Gospel—have. Not only St.
Gregory the Great, but St Augustine, as well as other great saints, and fathers
of the Church, wrote at length on these and subsequent verses from Ezekiel.
This awesome responsibility, however, is not only for the
shepherds of the Church. In the Gospel today, Jesus talks about the
responsibility that each one of us has toward our brothers and sisters. And,
fortunately, Jesus gives us an appropriate and tactful way of offering
correction: if we notice a person’s fault, we don’t go around telling everyone
else about it. Rather, we go to them privately and say something.
Isn’t this so often the opposite of what we do? If we feel
wronged by someone, don’t we usually tell everyone except that person? But,
Jesus tells us to go to them, one-on-one, privately. This way we allow the
opportunity for the person to offer an explanation for what they did; maybe
they had no idea that what they were doing was wrong. This allows for the
opportunity for a genuine and sincere reconciliation, without unnecessary
humiliation.
This is often called “fraternal correction,” which is very
different from judging. Judging comes out a sense of self-righteousness, thinking
that I am better than another, or holier than another, and for that reason I
have the right to point out another’s faults. Judging can also come out of a
certain insecurity that seeks to point out another’s faults in order to make my
own faults not look so bad. I am sure we have all come across people like that
in our lives, and all of us have probably acted that way once or twice.
Fraternal correction is different; it has another
motivation. Its goal is, as Jesus says, “to win over your brother.” The goal is
not to beat him or her down, nor is it to humiliate them. Fraternal correction
comes out of genuine concern for another; it is out of a desire to see a friend
or loved one become even better than they already are. The motivation is love,
and nothing else. “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another,”as St
Paul said today. Its goal is to bring about deeper bonds of communion between
the other person and Christ, and between you and the other person.
As I mentioned earlier, St. Gregory the Great commented on
those previous verses from Ezekiel. In his commentary, Gregory shows us the
right attitude that should go along with fraternal correction. When he speaks
of his own responsibility as a watchman, St. Gregory says, “how hard it is for
me to say this, for by these very words I denounce myself … I myself do not
live my life according to my own preaching.” He then goes on to say how, when
he lived in a monastery, before becoming Pope, it was so much easier for him to
be attentive to prayer, to control his tongue in conversation with others, but
that all this is more difficult now that he has been given the responsibility
of the papacy. He is well aware of his own shortcomings, and asks: who is he to
serve as a watchman, what gives him the right to speak? And he answers himself
saying: “Because I love him (Jesus), I do not spare myself in speaking of him.”
Now, I know I havesaid a lot about correcting others, but
let’s remember something that we should do even more often than we correct:
that is, we should encourage others. St. Paul says, “Encourage one another and
build one another up”(1 Thes 5:11). However much we might be called upon to
offer some gentle correction to another person, we should make sure that even
more often we find ourselves encouraging and commending another’s good deeds.
Because our faith is not, first and foremost, about what we’re doing wrong. But
it is a “yes”—a “yes” to Christ, and a “yes”to the life, the mercy, the joy he
offers us. Through both encouragement and correction, we are freed up in order
to offer a more generous “yes”to Jesus.
God Bless
Nathan
Nathan
