Word to the Wise
Sunday, September 6, 2020 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Ezek 33:7-9; Rom 13:8-10; Matt 18:15-20]Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law....... Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law. [Romans]
These words of St. Paul on love of neighbor are placed squarely between the words of Ezekiel and Jesus which hold us responsible for confronting others about their behavior! One might add to St. Paul's famous words about love in First Corinthians 13 that "Love is tough!" Ask anyone who has participated in an "intervention" with a family member or friend who has become addicted! The sad thing about the necessity of an intervention is that if friends and family had said something earlier, the drama of an intervention would not have been necessary. Is it a matter of saying, "Well, I don't want to hurt his/her feelings?" Or is it a matter of "Oh no! He or she will get mad at me and won't be friends with me anymore," or "Who am I to judge?"
"Fraternal correction" is an obligation of love, but it does require wisdom. Parents learn when to "let it go" and when to make it stop, but this does not happen overnight - rather, only after successes and failures. The same is true in situations of employer/employee or, say, pastor/parishioner. I recall a pastoral situation in which I was visited by a couple of members of one of the choirs at Sunday Mass. These ladies objected to what they considered immodest dress by the director of the choir, who was a much younger woman. After much hemming and hawing, it became clear that they wanted ME to talk to her about her wardrobe. Wisdom came to my rescue and I suggested to the ladies that this was something that would be best handled woman-to-woman. They exclaimed, "Oh no! She'll get mad at us!" I replied, "You're probably right about that, but it's still something best dealt with in the choir itself."
The Gospel According to Matthew today has Jesus offering a very practical but difficult method of "fraternal correction" that honors the obligation to love one's neighbor. I have suggested it any number of times to parishioners of all ages. I often get the same reaction I got from the choir ladies! But Ezekiel and Jesus and Paul (cf. Letter to the Galatians) all remind us that "Love is tough!" AMEN