September 6, 2026
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/090626.cfm
Commentary on
Ezekiel 33:7-9; Romans 13:8-10; Matthew 18:15-20
We are reminded today that to belong to the Church is to
belong to a community of brothers and sisters in Christ. This means that being
a Christian is not a private, purely personal affair, although that is the way
some people seem to behave. When God asked Cain, “Where is your brother?”, Cain
answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen 4:9) The teaching of today’s Gospel
is that indeed I am responsible for my brothers and sisters.
Not only that, our relationship with Jesus, with God,
depends intimately on how we relate with other people—be they members of our
own family or complete strangers:
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
And:
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least
of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me…just as you did not do
it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. (Matthew
25:40,45)
Many of us are reluctant to involve ourselves in other
people’s affairs. Sometimes that attitude is good and wholesome, but sometimes
it is not. Our government, for instance, now frequently asks us to report on
instances of abuse of which we may be aware. Such behaviour against defenceless
people is something about which we need to be really concerned, to the point of
taking appropriate action to protect the victims. If such things happen within
the family it can be even more difficult to take action. It is not easy to see
a father or mother taken away by the police or investigated by a social worker,
even though it may be in the best interests of all concerned.
Community relations
The Gospel passage of today deals with such situations within the Christian
community. The whole of Matthew chapter 18 is a discourse on mutual relations
within the Christian community and, especially, what to do when divisions
arise, as must inevitably happen. We are communities of sinners trying to be
saints and there are many pitfalls on the way. In today’s passage we see first
of all a three-stage procedure for dealing with a community member who has done
‘something wrong’. Presumably, it is some form of external behaviour which is
harmful to the quality of the community’s witnessing to the Gospel.
The whole thrust of the passage is that we should all work
towards reconciliation rather than punishment. There will also be a desire to
keep the issue at as low a profile as possible. Sadly, we read regularly in our
newspapers what happens when people drag their mutual grievances against each
other to the law courts. So, the first stage is for the people concerned to
solve the issue among themselves. If it works out at that level, that is the
ideal situation—you have “regained” your brother or sister. “Regained” (or ‘won
back’ in some translations) here is a Jewish technical term for conversion. For
it is not enough that he merely stop his offensive behaviour, there also needs
to be a genuine change of attitude and a genuine reconciliation with the offending
person.
If the offender refuses to listen to his “brother”, then
others should be brought in as confirming witnesses. And, if he refuses to
listen to these, then “tell it to the church”—in Greek, ekklesia.
‘Church’ is here understood as the local community because, in the thinking of
the Christian Testament, each self-contained community is a ‘church’ (for
example, Revelation 1:4-3:22, where letters are written to seven ‘churches’ or
local communities).
Exclusion
In the last resort, if the offender still refuses to listen or to change, then:
…let such a one be to you as a gentile and a tax
collector.
That is to say, let him be put out from the community and be
regarded as an outsider. Obviously, this is a drastic and final step, not to be
taken in a spirit of revenge or vindictiveness, but out of real concern for the
well-being of the whole community. It requires very sensitive discernment
because it is easy to ‘get rid of’ someone who may in fact be telling the
community some wholesome truths it needs to hear.
Many genuinely prophetic people have had this experience. It
is easy to be too concerned about the ‘respectable image’ of the community or
being seen as in conflict with the established authorities. The only well-being
that can justify such ‘excommunication’ is behaviour that is totally at
variance with the community’s mission to be the Body of Christ and to be
witness of the Gospel message.
How, someone may ask, can this be squared with Jesus’
openness to sinners, including corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes, or with
the story of the Prodigal Son? But Jesus’ reception of these people was not unconditional.
It depended on their change of heart and the abandonment of their sinful ways.
Jesus sat down with sinners, not because he liked them more than good people,
but because he hoped to lead them back. When he forgave the woman taken in
adultery, he told her to “sin no more”. The Prodigal Son was received with open
arms after he had decided he no longer wanted to live his life of debauchery
and, by his own decision, came back to his father.
The common good and the individual good
So, it is in the interests of both the community and of the individual that, if
a person persists in anti-Christian behaviour, the person should be separated
from the community. We practice this partly by not allowing a person in serious
sin to receive the Eucharist. There is a serious contradiction between a
person’s acting contrary to the Gospel and at the same time wanting to share in
the Body of Christ, which has been wounded by his or her behaviour.
The situation, obviously, can be changed by a change in the
attitude and behaviour of the wrongdoer. Once the person repents and converts,
they will be—indeed must be—received back with joy:
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.
These words also indicate that the church has the power,
given it by God, to make a judgement on who is fit to belong to the Body of
Christ, i.e. the church community. It is a necessary power to preserve the
integrity of the community as a witness to the gospel. It is a power which must
be exerted only with loving concern for the well-being of a wrongdoer. That
said, it is also a dangerous power which could be abused.
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.
Wherever Christians meet together in truth and love, whether
it be for prayer, study, or decision-making, Jesus is present and Jesus speaks
and acts. This is both a tremendous gift and also a great responsibility.
Centrality of love
And so it is that Paul in the Second Reading puts the emphasis on love. It
contains all other Christian obligations:
Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the
fulfilling of the law.
To keep the commandments without love—and it is possible—is
to become not another Jesus, but a Pharisee. If I really care in compassion for
my neighbour, then I know that I am keeping the commandments and that I also am
loving God. I have to look carefully at the needs of my brothers and sisters.
If I see them hurting themselves or someone else, that is my business.
So the First Reading says:
If I say to the wicked, “O wicked ones, you shall surely
die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the
wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your
hand.
I am my brother’s and my sister’s keeper. But not
absolutely, for:
…if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways and they
do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you
will have saved your life.
I have a responsibility to save my brother in sin, but I am
not ultimately responsible for his salvation. The last choice will always be
with him. There is no need, after one has done one’s best, to feel guilt over
the evil behaviour of another.
Only path to salvation
It is easy to think that being a Catholic means being concerned with the
relationship between God and me, that my duty is to “save my soul”. But in
fact, the only way to “save my soul” is by becoming a truly loving and caring
person as part of a loving and caring community of people united in Christ. And
sometimes that caring may involve bringing the brother/sister face to face with
the loving demands of the gospel. We do not help each other by turning a blind
eye to behaviour which is clearly unchristian.
As a community we have a responsibility for each other’s
well-being. We do not further the witness of a loving community when we, in
false “charity”, ignore social problems such as drug-taking, alcoholism,
compulsive gambling, violence in the home, discrimination against people with
physical or mental disabilities, racial exploitation and the like taking place
in our parish community. It is not enough just to deal with these things in the
privacy of “Confession” for, ultimately, reconciliation must be at the
community level. And, as such, this is the responsibility of the community
exercising its calling as the Body of Christ.
https://sacredspace.com/commentary/oa231/
Sunday,
September 6, 2026
Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
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.
Gospel Reading – Matthew 18: 15-20
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
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). 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 misdemeanor, 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.'
A Moment of Prayerful Silence
so that the Word of God may penetrate and enlighten
our life
Some Questions
to help us in our personal reflection.
•
Which part of the text struck you most? Why?
•
What advice does Jesus give to help people solve
the problems of the community and reconcile the members among themselves?
•
What is the basic requirement that comes out of
Jesus’ advice?
•
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?
•
Jesus said, "Where two or three meet in My
name, I am there among them." What does this mean for us today?
To Go Deeper into the Text
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.
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 center, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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