23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Fr. Leo
In imitation of Christ, we are called to love God with our whole being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This sums up the Christian way of life. Animated by the Spirit God bestows on us we strive to live as Jesus lived in all things.
This is our goal. A goal that guides us all though our life in this world. It sounds like a simple goal, to love, but coming to love as Christ loves calls us to be someone new in every moment.
In the Gospel we see the application of our command to love when it becomes challenging. When someone is wronged by another, their first step is to seek reconciliation with the other person, one on one. This shows respect when there are differences and avoids the birth of angry gossip.
If the one-on-one meeting ends in discord, then inviting an impartial witness to the discussion can help to keep the interchange honest on both sides. If they decide what is just together, that sets the course for future interaction.
However, if that fails, the issue is to be brought to the larger community so that the ill behavior can be known and corrected by all. According to the Gospel account we hear today, it may become necessary for the offending person to be shunned from the community; a very serious course of action taken as a last resort.
It appears that setting a boundary for behavior in a community is justified, and I think most of us would agree. The tension will always remain however, of where that boundary is to be drawn. We might ask, did Jesus have a boundary to his love? He did cast out devils, but always strived to heal and make whole the individual person.
It is also true that Jesus never forced himself and his truth upon people. There needs to be faith on our part, even a desire for faith, it’s self the work of the Holy Spirit, for healing to take place. So when we do draw boundaries, perhaps we need to be open to God’s work in others that they might return to the communion of the community as we all grow to be more loving as Christ was loving.
It may be interesting to look at the need to draw boundaries in what is going on in our city with the “Black Lives Matter” movement. There are those working for justice, and then there are those using the situation to sin in the worst ways, from murder, to burning, and looting. To this second group, who defeat the work of the first, we need to set a boundary or at least enforce the boundary of justice that has already been established for peace among the people. Doesn’t Christian love call us to heed the voice of justice, and challenge the sin that brings us all down? This is the love that crosses all boundaries, the love represented by Christ’s cross, and reaches fulfillment through the power of the Spirit who raises up those who will risk following. Let us keep praying then, “Our Father who art in heaven, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”