23A
“For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."-- This verse from Matthew’s Gospel for today reminds me of a story of a pastor of a small Baptist church in a drought-stricken part of Alabama last summer who implored his people to pray for rain. In fact, he asked each member of the church to join in a prayer vigil that would continue day and night until God granted their request.
Never had there been a greater sense of urgency in that church than was revealed over the next few days. At any hour one might pass that small rural church and find the lights on and someone at the altar praying.
Finally late Wednesday evening some dark clouds began to roll in. Soon rain began falling in torrents. For four straight days it rained without ceasing. The creeks began overflowing their banks. It became necessary to evacuate persons from their homes. Still the water kept rising. The entire community was now under water.
As rescue workers made their way in a boat through the perilous floodwater evacuating the last reluctant stragglers, one of the boats passed that little country church now almost completely submerged.
There on the roof of the church sat the pastor with a look of grand satisfaction on his face. As he surveyed the floodwaters he could be heard saying to himself, “Not bad for a church like ours. Not bad at all.”
Regarding the two or three gathered in a prayer session. God has called us into community with one another, He said He would dwell in US and walk among US, meaning that when we are in deep fellowship, community and a sharing of our lives together, there He is. If anyone else has experienced this same sort of commitment, then you will know the power that is released when 2 or 3 or more are gathered.
e.g. An old man on the point of death summoned his sons around him to give them some parting advice. He ordered them to bring in a bundle of sticks, and said to his eldest son: “Break it.”
The son strained and strained, but with all his efforts was unable to break the bundle. The other sons also tried, but none succeeded.
“Untie the bundle,” said the father, “and each of you take a stick.” When they had done so, he told them: “Now, break,” and each stick was easily broken.
The moral us--In unity is strength.
We are responsible for one another as we can see from our Gospel text this Sunday, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” Jesus is saying that we are not to be only concerned with someone’s material well- being but also for their moral and spiritual good.
Hebrews 13:17 says to “watch over souls as one who will give an account.”
It’s not passing judgment but about caring for the person.
A good slogan is “don’t be a persecutor, enabler or a victim; (victim in this sense means to stop expecting someone else to rescue you).
The Catholic term for this is "fraternal correction," something that the Holy Spirit or Advocate does for us interiorly if we listen. There is a saying that "conscience is as good as a thousand witnesses." E.g. Step 10-Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it."
When it’s done by a human person, it has to be done with love and charity, or it’s like surgery without anesthesia!
In ancient Judaism, the terms to bind and loose were associated with the authority to teach and to grant or withhold forgiveness of sin. With this authority was given to Peter in Matthew 16:18, and now with the Roman Pontiff uniquely, it is now bestowed on the disciples as a whole. So, note carefully that the whole community has a role in binding and loosening offenses as per Matthew 18:18 in our Gospel text this Sunday.
e.g. Chuck Colson was the hatchet man for Richard Nixon since he carried out controversial and illegal tasks and he pleaded guilty to charges of obstructing justice. After he got out, he became active in prison ministry and he wrote a book. He said in this book, that “in today’s fiercely individualistic culture, people resent being told what to do, and since we don’t want to “scare them off,” we succumb to cultural pressures. But too often we confuse love with permissiveness. It is not love to fail to dissuade another believer from sin any more than it is love to fail to take a drink away from an alcoholic or matches away from a baby. True fellowship out of love for one another demands accountability.” (Chuck Colson, The Body, p. 130).
First Reading from Ezekiel 33, on the passage of the watchman. If the prophet has done his or job, then the demise of the people is their own fault.
Billy Sunday spoke about repenting which means a change of mind, like a 180 degree turn:
“They tell me I rub the fur the wrong way. I don’t. Let the cat turn around!”
3). Everybody falls at least venially as Proverbs 24:16 says that even a righteous person may fall seven times, but he gets up again, but has a sense of mercy and integrity because the person seeks holiness.
e.g. One day a mother and her son went to visit Gandhi. The mother needed help from one of the world’s greatest leaders.
It turns out, the little boy had an obsession with sugar and she went to seek Gandhi’s help on how to break her son’s sweet addiction.
“Gandhi, my son consumes far too much sugar, will you please tell him it’s bad for his health?”
After listening to the mother’s plea patiently, Gandhi refused to give the boy advice and told her to return in two weeks.
The mother left somewhat disappointed at Gandhi’s request.
Two weeks later they returned.
Gandhi pulled the child aside and told him it would be best if he quit eating so much sugar. The boy did his best to cut back on sweets.
The mother then pulled Gandhi aside curious as to why he needed two weeks.
Gandhi smiled to her and said “Two weeks ago I had an obsession with sugar. I needed the time to see if I could cut back myself.”
The goal of fraternal concern for others spiritual and moral well-being is reconciliation of the person with God and the Christian community.
e.g. In Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II, it says: “By the working of your power it comes about, O Lord, that hatred is overcome by love, revenge gives way to forgiveness, and discord is changed to mutual respect.”
Reconciliation may be possible and prudent for safe or salvageable relationships.
e.g. Tim Russert’s book 'Wisdom of Our Fathers' --
"Every birthday or Father's Day, I would buy Dad a bag of white pistachio nuts. We'd devour them together and then play tricks on each other by hiding bags of shells where the uneaten nuts used to be. How delighted he was when I fell for it and reached in to find a handful of shells! And I was delighted when I could trick him back.
The day before my 25th birthday, my father disowned me. We had a major falling out at Disney World, where dad and his new wife were treating us to a week's vacation. Falling out: a strange way to describe an argument but an apt way to describe the sensation of losing one's balance, of being catapulted out of childhood into a new and more frightening vision of the world and one's place in it. We were about to head off to a dinner show, the Hoop-Dee-Doo review, when Dad declared that my husband and I were "No longer part of this family unit." He summarily kicked us out of the hotel at Fort Wilderness village. It's hard to find a car to rent at Disney World on Christmas day.
Later that week, we got home to a letter from Dad. "Please take your husband's last name," he wrote. "You don't deserve to carry mine." For months my dreams were vivid and violent. I dreamed I would pay him back every penny he ever spent raising me. Maybe that would unmake him my father.
I thought of him almost daily, my anger mixed with a yearning for reconciliation. Years passed with no contact until my first child was born. As a new parent, I could not imagine feeling anger and disappointment sharp enough, or pervasive enough, to ever cast off my child. How could Dad have done so, felt so? How wounded my father must be, how damaged his soul from his own father's stern disapproval that never abated before he died. When nursing my son one day, I decided I would reach out to him.
On Father's Day I mailed him a bag of pistachios. I sent no note. He sent me back the empty shells. No note. But I smiled, I imagine he did too."
