Twenty-third
Sunday in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 127
Reading 1
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
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
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
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ
and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Gospel
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.”
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090620.cfm
Meditation: If
Your Brother Sins against You
What's
the best way to repair a damaged relationship? Jesus offers his disciples
spiritual freedom and power for restoring broken or injured relationships.
Don't brood over an offense - speak directly and privately
What can we learn from Jesus' instructions about how to mend a damaged
relationship (Matthew 18:15-20)? If you feel you have been wronged by someone,
Jesus says the first step is to speak directly but privately to the individual
who has done the harm. One of the worst things we can do is brood over our
grievance. This can poison our mind and heart and make it more difficult to go
directly to the person who caused the damage.
Seek the help of wise Christians
If we truly want to settle a difference with someone, we need to do it face to
face. If this fails in its purpose, then the second step is to bring another
person or persons, someone who is wise and gracious rather than someone who is
hot-tempered or judgmental. The goal is not so much to put the offender on
trial, but to persuade the offender to see the wrong and to be reconciled. And
if this fails, then we must still not give up, but seek the help of the
Christian community. Note the emphasis here is on restoring a broken
relationship by seeking the help of other Christians who hopefully will pray
and seek a solution for reconciliation based on Christian love and wisdom,
rather than relying on coercive force or threat of legal action, such as a
lawsuit.
Pray for the offender - for healing and reconciliation
Lastly, if even the Christian community fails to bring about reconciliation,
what must we do? Jesus seems to say that we have the right to abandon stubborn
and obdurate offenders and treat them like social outcasts. The tax-collectors
and Gentiles were regarded as "unclean" by the religious-minded Jews
and they resorted to shunning them. However we know from the Gospel accounts
that Jesus often had fellowship with tax-collectors (as well as other public
sinners), ate with them, and even praised them at times! Jesus refuses no one
who is open to receive pardon, healing, and restoration.
Set no obstacle in seeking to heal your brother's wound
When you are offended, are you willing to put aside your own grievance and
injury in order to help your brother's wound? The Lord Jesus wants to set us
free from resentment, ill-will, and an unwillingness to forgive. The love of
Christ both purifies and sets us free to do good to all - even those who cause
us grief. The call to accountability for what we have done and have failed to
do is inevitable and we can't escape it, both in this life and at the day of
judgment when the Lord Jesus will return. But while we have the opportunity
today, we must not give up on praying for those who cause us offense. With
God's help we must seek to make every effort to win them with the grace and
power of God's healing love and wisdom. Do you tolerate broken relationships or
do you seek to repair them as God gives you the opportunity to mend and restore
what is broken?
Lord
Jesus, make me an instrument of your healing love and peace. Give me wisdom and
courage to bring your healing love and saving truth to those in need of healing
and restoration.
Daily
Quote from the Early Church Fathers: If someone has done you injury, by
Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD)
"If
someone has done you injury and you have suffered, what should be done? You
have heard the answer already in today's scripture: 'If your brother sins
against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.' If you fail
to do so, you are worse than he is. He has done someone harm, and by doing harm
he has stricken himself with a grievous wound. Will you then completely
disregard your brother's wound? Will you simply watch him stumble and fall
down? Will you disregard his predicament? If so, you are worse in your silence
than he in his abuse. Therefore, when any one sins against us, let us take
great care, but not merely for ourselves. For it is a glorious thing to forget
injuries. Just set aside your own injury, but do not neglect your brother's
wound. Therefore 'go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone,' intent
upon his amendment but sparing his sense of shame. For it might happen that
through defensiveness he will begin to justify his sin, and so you will have
inadvertently nudged him still closer toward the very behavior you desire to
amend. Therefore 'tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens
to you, you have gained your brother,' because he might have been lost, had you
not spoken with him. " (excerpt from Sermon 82.7)
https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/?ds_year=2020&date=sep6
TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, MATTHEW 18:15-20
(Ezekiel
33:7-9; Psalm 95; Romans 13:8-10)
KEY VERSE: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (v. 20).
TO KNOW: The Jews were gathered together by God to form a worshiping and believing community (Hebrew, Qahal Yahweh). Christians were also called to be the people of God, the Church. Matthew is the only evangelist to use the Greek term ekklesia, meaning "church" in his gospel (Mt 16:18;18:17). In the first instance, the word referred to how the church should correct sinners in the community. Jesus wanted the future leaders of the church to learn how to deal with these persistent sinners. If a Christian attempted to correct another member of the community who had sinned against him, and that person remained unrepentant, additional members of the community were to be brought in to settle the matter. If the person continued to be obstinate, the case should be referred to the whole "church." This divine authority to "loose and bind" had been assigned to Peter (Mt.16:19; 1 Cor. 5:9-13), and was now given to the church. The church should never see people as hopeless sinners, but always treat those who had fallen with kindness and love as Jesus did. Christ is eternally present in the Christian community in which the power of united prayer is effective.
TO LOVE: Do I regularly meet with other Christians for prayer?
TO SERVE: Lord Jesus, give me the grace to hear your voice in the Church.
http://www.togetherwithgodsword.com/commentaries-on-the-daily-gospel-of-the-mass.html
Sunday 6 September 2020
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ezekiel 33:7-9. O that today you would listen to his voice!
Harden not your hearts – Psalm 94(95):1-2, 6-9. Romans 13:8-10. Matthew
18:15-20.
Are we ready to hear the hurt?
We need courage to confront a person who has caused us pain and
distress, a person who has sinned against us. It can often feel easier or
justifiable to complain to other people about the ‘problem person’. For a
little while, talking about the person rather than to the person can ease the
pain.
Yet the wisdom of Matthew’s Gospel reminds us of the
conversation that must happen ‘between you and him alone’. A careful, just and
age-old process allows the sinner multiple opportunities to acknowledge their
sins and return to the way of good. It begins with that first conversation. We
might reflect how these difficult conversations feel for us when we are the one
doing the ‘sinning’.
Whether we knowingly or unwittingly hurt a loved one, are we
ready to hear the hurt, to understand the cost? Do we have the courage to
accept our failings, seek forgiveness and return to the way of love and good?
http://www.pray.com.au/gospel_reflection/sunday-6-september-2020/
Blessed Claudio
Granzotto
Saint of the Day for
September 6
(August 23, 1900 –
August 15, 1947)
Blessed Claudio Granzotto | photo by Infovalli It | flickr
Blessed Claudio Granzotto’s Story
Born in Santa Lucia del Piave near Venice, Claudio was the
youngest of nine children and was accustomed to hard work in the fields. At the
age of 9, he lost his father. Six years later, he was drafted into the Italian
army, where he served more than three years.
His artistic abilities, especially in sculpture, led to studies
at Venice’s Academy of Fine Arts, which awarded him a diploma with the highest
marks in 1929. Even then he was especially interested in religious art. When
Claudio entered the Friars Minor four years later, his parish priest wrote,
“The Order is receiving not only an artist but a saint.” Prayer, charity to the
poor, and artistic work characterized his life which was cut short by a brain
tumor. He died on the feast of the Assumption, August 15, 1947, and was
beatified in 1994. His Liturgical Feast Day is March 23.
Reflection
Claudio developed into such an excellent sculptor that his work
still turns people toward God. No stranger to adversity, he met every obstacle
courageously, reflecting the generosity, faith, and joy that he learned from
Francis of Assisi.
https://www.franciscanmedia.org/blessed-claudio-granzotto/
Lectio Divina: 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)
Lectio Divina
Sunday, September 6, 2020
Fraternal correction in the community
Care of those who leave the community
Matthew 18:15-20
1. Opening prayer
Lord Jesus, send Your Spirit to help us to read the Scriptures
with the same mind that You read them to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. In
the light of the Word, written in the Bible, You helped them to discover the
presence of God in the disturbing events of Your sentence and death. Thus, the
cross that seemed to be the end of all hope became for them the source of life
and of resurrection.
Create silence in us so that we may listen to Your voice in
Creation and in the Scriptures, in events and in people, above all in the poor
and suffering. May Your word guide us so that we too, like the two disciples on
the way to Emmaus, may experience the force of Your resurrection and witness to
others that You are alive in our midst as source of fraternity, justice and
peace. We ask this of You, Jesus, son of Mary, who revealed the Father to us
and sent us Your Spirit. Amen.
2. Reading
a) A division of the text to help with the reading:
Matthew 18:15-16: Correcting the brother or sister and
re-establishing unity
Matthew 18:17: Those who do not listen to the community cut themselves off
Matthew 18:18: Decisions made on earth are accepted in heaven
Matthew 18:19: Prayer in common for those who leave the community
Matthew 18:20: Jesus’ presence within the community
b) A key to the reading
- Matthew’s Gospel organizes the words of Jesus into five great
Sermons or Discourses. This shows that at the end of the first century, the
time of the final edition of Matthew’s Gospel, the Christian communities had
already taken on concrete forms of catechesis. The five Discourses were five
great markers showing the way on the journey. They offered concrete criteria to
teach people and help them solve problems. The Sermon on the Community (Mt
18:1-35), for instance, gives instructions as to how the members of the
community should live together so that the community may be a revelation of the
Kingdom of God.
- On this 23rd Sunday of ordinary time we shall read and
meditate on the second part of the Sermon on the Community and we shall see
closely two aspects: fraternal correction, that is how to proceed in case of
conflict among the members of the community (18:15-18), and prayer in common:
how to take care of those who have left the community (18:19-20).
c) The text:
15 'If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out
with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won
back your brother. 16 If he does not listen, take one or two others along with
you: whatever the misdemeanour, the evidence of two or three witnesses is
required to sustain the charge. 17 But if he refuses to listen to these, report
it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him
like a gentile or a tax collector. 18 'In truth I tell you, whatever you bind on
earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven. 19 'In truth I tell you once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask
anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where
two or three meet in my name, I am there among them.'
3. A moment of prayerful silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten our life
4. Some questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
a) Which part of the text struck you most? Why?
b) What advice does Jesus give to help people solve the problems of the
community and reconcile the members among themselves?
c) What is the basic requirement that comes out of Jesus’ advice?
d) In Mt 16:19, the power to forgive is given to Peter; in Jn 20:23, this same
power is given to the apostles. Here, the power to forgive is given to the
community. How does our community use this power to forgive given to us by
Jesus?
e) Jesus said, "Where two or three meet in My name, I am there among
them". What does this mean for us today?
5. For those who wish to go deeper into the text
a) The context of our text in Matthew’s Gospel:
In organizing the words of Jesus into five great sermons or
discourses, Matthew’s Gospel imitates the five books of the Pentateuch and
presents the Good News of the Kingdom as a New Law. This Sunday’s
liturgy challenges us with the New Law that teaches fraternal correction within
the community and our attitude towards those who exclude themselves from the
community.
b) A commentary on the text:
Matthew 18:15-16: Correcting the brother and sister and
rebuilding unity.
Jesus gives simple and concrete norms to tell us how to proceed in case of
conflict in the community. If a brother or sister sins, that is, behaves
contrary to the life of the community, you must not denounce him/her publicly
before the community. First you must speak to him/her alone. Try to find out
why he/she acted in that way. If you get no result, then call two or three
members of the community to see whether you can get some result.
Matthew writes his Gospel around the 80’s or 90’s, almost at the end of the
first century, for the community of converted Jews coming from Galilee and
Syria. If he recalls so insistently these words of Jesus, it is because, in
fact, in those communities there were great divisions concerning the acceptance
of Jesus Messiah. Many families were divided and persecuted by their own
parents who did not accept Jesus as Messiah (Mt 10:21, 35-36).
Matthew 18:17: Anyone who does not listen to the community cuts
him/herself off.
In extreme cases and after trying everything possible, the reticent brother or
sister has to be brought before the community. And if that person will not
listen to the advice of the community, then he or she has to be considered “as
a publican or pagan”, that is, as a person not belonging to the community and
who much less wishes to be part of the community. Thus you are not excluding
anyone, but the person him/herself is excluding him/herself from the common
life of the community.
Matthew 18:18: Decisions made on earth are accepted in heaven
In Mt 16:19, the power to forgive is given to Peter, in Jn 20:23, this same
power is given to the apostles. Now, in this text, the power to forgive is
given to the community: “whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and
whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”. Here we see the
importance of reconciliation and the enormous responsibility of the community
in dealing with its members. The community does not excommunicate the person,
but simply ratifies the exclusion that the person had already assumed publicly
by leaving the community.
Matthew 18:19: Prayer in common for the brother or sister who
has left the community
This exclusion does not mean that the person is abandoned to his or her fate. Rather,
he or she may be separated from the community, but will not be separated from
God. Thus, if talking to the community has not borne results and if the person
no longer wishes to be part of the life of the community, we still have the
obligation to pray together to the Father to achieve reconciliation. And Jesus
guarantees that the Father will listen.
Matthew 18:20: Jesus’ presence within the community
The reason for the certainty of being heard is Jesus’ promise: “Where two or
three meet in my name, I am there among them!” Jesus says that He is the
centre, the axle of the community and, as such, prays to the Father together
with the community that He may grant the gift of the return of the brother or
sister who has left.
c) A deepening:
- The community as alternative space of solidarity and
fraternity:
Today’s neo-liberal society, marked by consumerism, is hard and
heartless. It does not welcome the poor, the little ones, strangers and
refugees. Money has no place for mercy. The society of the Roman Empire also
was hard and heartless, with no room for the little ones. They sought a refuge
for their hearts but found none. The synagogues too were demanding and did not
offer them a place of rest. In the Christian communities, there were those who
wished to introduce the rigor of the Pharisees in the observance of the Law.
They brought into the fraternity the same unjust criteria of society and the
synagogue. Thus within the communities there arose the same divisions as those
in society and the synagogue between Jew and non-Jew, rich and poor, rulers and
ruled, word and silence, man and woman, race and religion. Instead of
making the community a place of welcome, it became a place of judgement.
Recalling the words of Jesus in the Discourse on the Community, Matthew wants
to shed light on the journey of the Christian so that the community may be an
alternative space of solidarity and fraternity. It must be Good News for the
poor.
- Excommunication and exclusion from fraternal life:
Jesus does not wish to add to the exclusion. Rather, He wishes
to promote inclusion. He did this all His life: He welcomed and reintegrated
people who, in the name of a false idea of God, were excluded from the
community. But He could not prevent a person who disagreed with the Good News
of the Kingdom from refusing to belong to the community and exclude him/herself
from the community. This is what some Pharisees and doctors of the law did.
Even then, the community must behave like the Father in the parable of the
Prodigal Son. It must hold the brother or sister in its heart and pray for
him/her so that he/she may change his/her mind and come back to the community.
6. Prayer: Psalm 32
Free admission of sin
How blessed are those whose offense is forgiven,
whose sin blotted out.
How blessed are those to whom Yahweh imputes no guilt,
whose spirit harbors no deceit.
I said not a word, but my bones wasted away
from groaning all the day;
day and night Your hand lay heavy upon me;
my heart grew parched as stubble in summer drought.
I made my sin known to You,
did not conceal my guilt.
I said, 'I shall confess my offense to Yahweh.'
And You, for Your part, took away my guilt,
forgave my sin.
That is why each of Your faithful ones
prays to You in time of distress.
Even if great floods overflow,
they will never reach Your faithful.
You are a refuge for me,
You guard me in trouble,
with songs of deliverance You surround me.
I shall instruct you and teach you the way to go;
I shall not take my eyes off you.
Be not like a horse or a mule;
that does not understand bridle or bit;
if you advance to master them,
there is no means of bringing them near.
Countless troubles are in store for the wicked,
but one who trusts in Yahweh is enfolded in His faithful love.
Rejoice in Yahweh, exult all you upright,
shout for joy, you honest of heart.
7. Final Prayer
Lord Jesus, we thank You for the word that has enabled us to
understand better the will of the Father. May Your Spirit enlighten our actions
and grant us the strength to practice that which Your Word has revealed to us.
May we, like Mary, Your mother, not only listen to but also practice the Word.
You who live and reign with the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit forever
and ever. Amen.
https://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/lectio-23rd-sunday-ordinary-time-0
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