Cycle A - Year I:  

10 September 2023: Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time 

(Liturgical Color: Green)

Readings:

First Reading:        Ezekiel 33:7-9

Second Reading:   Romans 13:8-10

Gospel:  Please Read  Matthew 18:15-20 

"Am I my brother's keeper?"

 

When parents intervene between feuding siblings they often hear the lame excuse "Am I my brother's keeper?"  This means refusing to be accountable for the wrongdoing against one's brother or sister.   

This question of "Am I my brother's keeper?" goes back to the very beginning of God's plan of salvation and continues to haunt us in a multitude of ways to this very day.  

In the Book of Genesis Cain and Abel were the first descendants of Adam and Eve. Out of envy Cain killed his brother Abel. Later when the Lord asked Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?", Cain answered, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gn 4:9)  

Our Lord Jesus shocks us in this Sunday's Gospel proclamation with a new teaching that in fact we must be our brother's keeper. It means we must care and help our erring brothers and sisters.

In our day-to-day situations, our society including those who call themselves Christians try to avoid confrontation for fear of offending other persons, or of being accused as judgmental. Sometimes, we prefer to just keep silent even when evil things or wrongdoings happen in our very presence. And yet all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing at all to prevent evil from happening.  And worst is when people lose their sense of sin that they are unable to recognize evil. In other instances, our society is simply indifferent to sin itself. And so our Lord Jesus  calls us to confront sin with the hope of restoring sinners to spiritual health and to membership in the holy community.

Jesus reminds us in the Gospel reading that one of the most important disciplines that Catholics, and all Christians, should really take to heart is fraternal correction. In our generation when people lack courage to speak out against wrongdoings the authentic practice of fraternal correction is more urgent than ever.

So our Lord Jesus teaches that we owe each other, as a matter of justice, the charity of correcting each other out of love for God and the salvation of the soul of the person who has committed a wrongdoing or exhibited a lack of good judgment. For Jesus isn't interested who is right or who is wrong. He only cares about getting a broken relationship fixed. 

And prayer helps the process of reconciliation. That is why when we find ourselves in the midst of conflict with our brethren, we need to seek direction in prayer.

Because salvation has a social dimension, so that we cannot be saved by just praying to God yet keeping our door closed to the needs of others. Rather, we will be saved in communion with others as People of God. Precisely, the Church is the People of God in journey together to the Father's house.

Let us pay attention to the parting words of our Lord Jesus: "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 in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Mt 18:19-20)  Thus, the process of reconciliation is made easier by the knowledge that God is with us if we come together in His name during the process.

In the Eucharist at Mass, let us pray that the Lord fill our hearts with patience and love for our erring brothers and sisters. May the Lord grant us the moral courage to be involved, to act together as a community, to lead others to conversion and become truly a People of God in journey to the Father's house. Forgive us, our heavenly Father, as we also try to forgive each other. Amen.

A blessed Sunday to us all. And thank you for a moment with God.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!