1st reading – Ezekiel 33:7-9
2nd reading – Romans 13:8-10
Gospel – Matthew 18:15-20
As I was reflecting on today’s readings, I kept going back to when I was a young boy, about 10 years old. Back in the old days, some say, back at the old homestead.
I remember how it was my sisters jobs (all six of them) to help my mother prepare the meals and to set the table. I also remember, “oh too vividly”, that it was my brothers and me who had to clean up and do the dishes. Can you imagine how many dishes there were with 10 kids, a set of parents, and no dishwasher? I cringe every time I think of it!!!!
I remember how one of my older brothers used to check the sharpness of the knives by chopping away at the top of the knife drawer before placing them in the drawer after drying.. I also remember how I told him not to do that because mom would be very upset. Of course, my brother would not listen to his younger brother so he never stopped.
According to our gospel today, the best thing I could have done would have been to go to my mother, but being boys and not to be outdone by the other, my other brother and I joined in also to check the sharpness of the knives before placing them in the knife drawer.
When the time came to pay the piper, my mother, we would all blame each other; No, I didn’t-he did! Not me, him! Mom, I’m your favorite!(as if that would work).
The point is – that if we are our brothers and sisters keepers, a lot of the wrongs around us would be eliminated, no matter how small or large the wrong is. I was wrong not only for what I did but for what I did not do, go talk to my mother about the problem.
I believe that the real sin here was doing something that got my mother very mad and the knowing that my brothers and me were the cause. We were all affected, even my other little brother and my sisters and even my father because they faced the brunt of my mothers wrath.
This scenario of my two other brothers and me is somewhat how our society is today. We see the same non-caring for those who are making wrong choices or doing wrong things. Nowadays it is easier for some people to turn their heads instead of confrontation with the one committing the wrong or easier for them to join in like my brother and I.
You can see this in the inner city where gangs are so prevalent. You can see this by how many abortions are done each day throughout the world. You can see and hear about the violence around us every time you pick up a newspaper or listen to the news on t.v. Yes, we are all affected by all the sins of the world.
Pope John Paul II, now Blessed, during his pontificate wrote, “There is no sin, not even the most intimate and secret one, the most strictly individual one, that exclusively concerns the person committing it. With greater or lesser violence, with greater or lesser harm, every sin has repercussions on the Whole Human Family”.
Our readings today are about responsibility. Responsibility to look after one another to include doing that which keeps one another in good standing with God. Of course we can only do this if we are in good standing ourselves.
Imagine how it would be if your family was in a similar situation as I was when I was young or it could have been a situation you remember from your past. Could you see yourself being confronted in the manner of what we heard in Matthew’s gospel? How embarrassing would that be? It probably would definitely stop one from doing what got them in the situation in the first place.
In some way, I feel that it goes a lot further and means much more than just getting scolded for your action. It is about being in union, in harmony with the ones around you and with God. It is also about living our Christian faith on our sleeves, not hidden away for no one to see.
People around us are our responsibility. Our responsibility to look after and to love. If we truly love one another, then we become the watchman, as we heard in the first reading. As followers of Jesus, we who belong to the Church have the responsibility to treat sinners with respect and lead them to repentance.
Followers of Jesus had the responsibility to respond to penitent sinners by reintegrating them into the community, and to avoid unrepentant sinners as was the customary response to Gentiles or tax collectors who were often separated from the community.
We have a responsibility to ones around us as well. And I believe it goes further than just those in the Church. It touches every aspect of our society. I would like to ask these questions for all of us: How often do we join in the assembly of those who are standing up and protesting against the atrocities of abortion? How many of us get on that bus to go to the capital every January to stand up for the rights of the unborn?
How many of us write to our legislators to have our voices heard on topics and laws that go against the respect and dignity of every human being? How many of us have written to the newspaper in response to an article that went against the principles of which we stand for as Catholics? How many of us have turned our heads or just joined in the flow of things? I did when I was 10 years old and there were other times much later on that I am not too proud of.
Let us watch after each other. Let us not be like Linus in the Comics Strip “Peanuts”, who was confronted by Lucy who demanded that the t.v. channel be changed. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asks Linus. “These five fingers” says Lucy-holding up her hand. “Individually they’re nothing” she says but as she makes a fist, she says “When I curl them up like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold”.
Linus considers the situation a second-then says, “Which channel do you want ?” Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, “why can’t you guys get organized like that?”
Let us not be like Linus who wants the same power as Lucy. Our power lies in our hearts not our fists. Powered by God’s love given to us in the body and blood of Christ, we can go forward from here to live our faith fully in word and action. We can go from here as ones who care for each other. And as we heard in the letter of St. Paul to the Romans, Love does no evil to the neighbor, so we can go from here to “Love our neighbor as ourselves”.