Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year A

Posté par diaconos le 6 septembre 2023

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# In Christianity, fraternal correction is a process of explanation by a Christian towards his brother, in the event that the latter sins. This approach is described in the Gospel according to Matthew: « If your brother sins, go to him and rebuke him, one on one. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that every matter may be decided on the word of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen, tell the community. And if he refuses to listen even to the community, let him be to you like the heathen and the publican. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be held in heaven as bound, and whatever you loose on earth will be held in heaven as loosed. » Brotherly correction takes the form of conversion. It is one of the many forms of penance in the Christian life, and can be part of the sacrament of penance and reconciliation. Fraternal correction may be preceded by a phase of prayer, and must preserve the anonymity of those who have sinned, so that honour is preserved. Brotherly correction is often a duty. God explains to the prophet Ezekiel that not to warn a brother who sins mortally is de facto to be as guilty as he is (Ezek 33, 7-9). Even more than fear for one’s own salvation, or even the more noble concern for the common good, what motivates fraternal correction is love for one’s brother.

In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI reminded us of the importance of practising fraternal correction », emphasising the extent to which fraternal love includes a sense of mutual responsibility. Pope Francis recommended that we bear in mind that if you have to correct a small fault in another person, think first of all that you personally have much bigger faults. If you are not capable of exercising fraternal correction with love, charity, truth and humility, you run the risk of offending and destroying that person’s heart, you will only add to the gossip that hurts and you will become a blind hypocrite, as Jesus denounced. So we need to take our neighbour aside, with gentleness and love, and talk to him. We must also speak the truth, and not say things that are not true. Brotherly correction should not consist in judging or accusing, but in helping. We must not judge our brother’s behaviour. The words of Christ resonate in our conscience : « Judge not, that ye be not judged… What hast thou to look at the mote that is in thy brother’s eye ? And you don’t notice the beam in your own eye ! »

Brotherly

If your brother offends you, go and warn him in particular; if he is persuaded, you have won over your brother. If not, take some witnesses with you; if he does not listen to them, tell the Church ; if finally he does not listen to the Church, regard him as a stranger to all fraternal communion. The Church has the power to pronounce in all such cases, to bind and unbind, for she will act in the spirit of prayer, which can achieve everything.

The effectiveness of prayer

What is the connection between the instruction which begins with these words  : « Where two or three are thus gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them ? »  These are two sides of the same subject : charity does not allow the little ones and the weak to be scandalised or despised; what conduct will it inspire in him who, instead of doing a similar evil, will have to suffer it ? Jesus described this behaviour in its various phases. As he explained it, he generalised his thought and embraced all that concerned the mutual relations between brothers in the same community.

If one sins against the other, offends him, wrongs him, the latter must first go, without waiting for his brother to come to him, to rebuke him, to warn him, to point out his wrong, but alone with him, an important condition of prudence and charity, the best way of winning him over by avoiding wounding his self-esteem. However, the authorities on which this retrenchment is based are not decisive. If it were otherwise, it would be hard to understand Peter’s question. Won what? Some replied : « Your gain, you will have made your brother of the one who offended you, you will be reconciled in love. »

Others assigned to the conciliatory action a higher purpose, and interpreted : « You will have won him for God, for the life of the soul, which he was in danger of losing. » But if he will not listen to you, take with you one or two more persons, so that every case may be established on the word of two or three witnesses: this is the second degree of reprobation. What should the role of the witnesses be? It is indicated in these words : « It will not be enough for a single witness to stand up against a man guilty of a crime, a fault or a sin, whatever they may be. The testimony of two or three witnesses will be needed to hear the case ». (Deut 19, 15)

According to Meyer, the witnesses must record every word of the accused in order to confirm them before the Church. But this would be an encroachment on the third stage, so Weiss thought that the witnesses should rather support the reprehension with their authority, endeavouring to convince this brother. Jesus used the word Church, and he could have done so, since a few disciples gathered around him already formed a Church. In these words, he was looking to the future.

By this he meant a local Church, an assembly of Christians before which a cause could be brought and fraternally dealt with. Jesus had in mind an assembly of Christians, to whom he attributed the authority necessary to exercise an act of discipline, because he assumed that it would be animated by the Spirit of God.Others assigned to the conciliatory action a higher purpose, and interpreted : « You will have won him for God, for the life of the soul, which he was in danger of losing. » But if he will not listen to you, take with you one or two more persons, so that every case may be established on the word of two or three witnesses : this is the second degree of reprobation.

What should the role of the witnesses be ? It is indicated in these words : « It will not be enough for a single witness to stand up against a man guilty of a crime, a fault or a sin, whatever they may be. The testimony of two or three witnesses will be needed to hear the case ». (Deut 19, 15) According to Meyer, the witnesses must record every word of the accused in order to confirm them before the Church. But this would be an encroachment on the third stage, so Weiss thought that the witnesses should rather support the reprehension with their authority, endeavouring to convince this brother.

Jesus used the word Church, and he could have done so, since a few disciples gathered around him already formed a Church. In these words, he was looking to the future. By this he meant a local Church, an assembly of Christians before which a cause could be brought and fraternally dealt with. Jesus had in mind an assembly of Christians, to whom he attributed the authority necessary to exercise an act of discipline, because he assumed that it would be animated by the Spirit of God and enlightened by his Word, according to which it would judge.

Jesus authorised any offended person who did everything to win his brother, to have no more fraternal relations with him who was hardened in his impenitence. Charity, however, cannot cease, for a Christian loves even a pagan and a sinner. The authority conferred on Peter is conferred here not only on the elders of the Church, but on the Church itself, in which, according to the whole New Testament, resides the power to judge matters concerning its government, according to the Word and Spirit of God. The Church may, in certain cases, delegate her powers, but they belong to her under the supreme authority of Jesus Christ. This second statement explains and profoundly modifies the first one concerning the apostle Peter.

If two of you agree and pray with one voice and one heart, you will be heard. These words also show us that the Christian notion of a Church does not reside in large numbers, or in such and such institutions. But that two or three believers united in prayer are a Church, to which belong all the spiritual privileges of the largest ecclesiastical body. Finally, we should not limit Jesus’ words to these two special teachings on the activity and constitution of the Church. He generalised his thought, and the main purpose of his statement is to make certain for us the effectiveness of prayer in common, in which the faith of each is enlivened by the faith of all.

This effectiveness is guaranteed by the presence of Jesus himself in the midst of those gathered in his name. This presence of Jesus Christ in all the places in the world where his disciples gather is a magnificent demonstration of his divinity.

Deacon Michel Houyoux

Interesting sites to visit on the Internet

◊ United Sates →Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

◊ Young Catholics → 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

Video The power of prayer → https://youtu.be/bbbxlf6MDQc?t=2

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