Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dear brothers and sisters,

In today’s Gospel, the Lord teaches us something truly important! How to give fraternal correction or as many call it today: feedback.

Give fraternal corrections. I believe this way of calling it expresses much better what it is than feedback. Maybe the most important word is fraternal. I gives us the context which when overlooked takes us back to simple feedback. It implies that we are brothers and sisters, family, and therefore that we have one Father! That means we have one source of what is right and wrong. There is an objectivity that goes beyond us and is the reference of the correction. I am not correcting you because I like this or this bothers me, but because it goes against what our Heavenly Father has taught us through Jesus. This brings us to give. The context of fraternity invites us to a context of caring for each other. When I correct it should be out of love, trying as much as I can to express that in a way that the other person can experience it. The word correction makes clear what the intention of the conversation is. Not to hurt the other person, but to help the other person who for some reason is following a path that is not good for herself or for others. We are not judging the intentions or the heart of the person, but the action that the person for some reason is doing wrong.

The method Jesus gives us is very clear. Now hopefully we never have to go to the last step. We start first by talking personally in an environment of trust and intimacy: trying to understand the circumstances of the other person, and clearly expressing what we believe is wrong. Here it is important to focus on the act not on what we think the intentions of the person are. This first step is incredibly important that is why some people have called it crucial conversations. There is much written about this and learning to do it properly really helps SO much. But if this step is unsuccessful then we consider that we ourselves are wrong so we look for 2 or 3 other persons that also recognize the act is not correct. Finally if the person is obstinate then this is presented to the local church where the person belongs. And only if the person continues to be obstinate then should be treated as "a Gentile or a tax collector" which means like Jesus treated them, that is, with great love and reverence, but not a member of the community.

Jesus finishes off with these words so that we realize how important and serious this matter is: "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."

God bless you and have a wonderful mass.

Father Carlos