TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, SEPTEMBER 6, 2026
Gospel Matthew 18:15-20
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."
REFLECTION
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone."
Do we commit errors throughout our lives? Yes.
Do we always know we are doing them? Sometimes yes, and sometimes not.
Do we like when someone points them to us? No and yes.
Why do I say this, no and yes?
My prideful human side will always reject an admonition because I want to believe I'm perfect in all I do. And yes, because when I come to my senses I realize the admonisher really wants me to overcome my vices and turn towards God.
Then there are two factors to accept a fraternal correction: Getting over myself and listening to the intention and the message the other person is trying to convey.
When an elder, a friend, a relative, comes to talk personally to me about something I might be doing wrong, I need to discern if they really want us to be better, or if they are just drawing pleasure on pointing out my defects. What are they telling me, and how are they saying it. If I had a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and tossed it at someone's head that might not be well received. If I wrapped beautifully, and presented it lovingly and respectfully it will be a different story. Same gift, different outcome.
The second part is humility on my side. Do I have the maturity to listen to what the other person is telling me? Again, I don't like to be wrong. I might even get upset. Being a type A Latina, I might react explosively at first. Then I might need time to discern, to ruminate and chew the words and attitudes given to me. I will need time in prayer to understand and accept this. I will need God's help to rectify my behavior. And will need to learn to be grateful for this correction.
I wonder, what is more difficult, to humbly accept a fraternal correction, or to gather the love and courage to impart it? We are "our brother's keepers" after all. And fraternal correction, or admonishing the sinner, is one of the 7 works of mercy in the Catholic Faith.
St. Ambrose said:
"If you discover some defect in a friend, correct him privately (...) For corrections do more good and are more profitable than friendship that keeps silent. If the friend is offended, correct him just the same, firmly and without fear, even though the correction tastes bitter to him. It is written in the Book of Proverbs that wounds from a true friend are preferable to kisses from flatterers (Prov 27:6)."
Also, St Augustine also warns against the grave fault entailed in omitting to offer this help to one’s neighbor:
"You do worse by keeping silent than he does by sinning."
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