Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Today’s gospel is about ordinary folks in the early church struggling to get along, especially with sisters and brothers who were less than perfect.  It can be easy for us to look back on the stories found in the gospels and imagine that those women and men listening to Jesus were ideal disciples, living in perfect harmony with one another.  From the earliest days, however, the church experienced divisions and disagreements, as believers tried to figure out how to live out the teachings of Jesus individually and as a community of believers.

The church is husbands and wives, mothers and fathers and kids, people and priests quietly helping one another, setting one another loose, especially in moments of trial and error.  The church is not only the Sunday eucharist, but the table prayers of our families.  The church is not only the church in Rome, but this parish community.  Of course, we live in a far more complicated time than when Father Peyton said, “The family that prays together stay together.”  Today’s lifestyles bring new stresses on people to gather as church.

This Sunday’s gospel comes out of this real experience of tension within the community.  It seems that Jesus has no illusions about the challenges of life with the family or church.  Although the church is called to be “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic,” individual Christians, simply put, don’t always get it right.  And so, as Pope Francis has summarized it, this Sunday’s gospel “presents the theme of brotherly correction within the community of believers: that is, how I must correct another Christian when he or she does what is not good.”

I overheard a very hurtful comment a few weeks ago by a resident made about another resident in the building.  For weeks, the rest of us heard her replay the remark again and again, and her hurt feelings grew exponentially.  Finally, someone urged her to go speak with the person who had offended her to try to smooth things out.  After a pause, she confessed, “I think I’d rather have my grievance!”

As I think of this, I’m struck by two points.  The first is the very real understanding that conflicts will arise in communities.  Although we Christians are called to live out our commitment to Jesus in dynamic ways, we don’t always make the choices we should.  The second point is that reconciliation is not an option.  Moreover, Jesus reminds us that the community has a part to play in helping promote healing and forgiveness. 

One of the challenges in this Sunday’s gospel is that, as Jesus reminds us, the initiative for reconciliation has to come from the person who has been wounded.  It’s very rare that the offender starts the process of forgiveness.  We are being asked to approach the person who hurt us and try to work for healing.  This requires honesty and humility, but there can never be healing if we allow a wound to fester or hold on to a grudge. 

In each celebration of the Mass, we take a few moments at the beginning of the liturgy to ask for forgiveness as a community.  We live in a world of overwhelming turmoil.  Still, we are responsible.  Today’s gospel portrait of a small group of people praying and gently correcting one another is a gentle reminder that whenever we are gathered in our homes, our parish, our community, no matter how hectic our schedules are, we are the church and so Christ to one another.

Paul A. Magnano

Pastor