Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

09-06-2026Weekly ReflectionFr. Albert

Today's Gospel gives us a beautiful but challenging teaching from Jesus about how we are to live with one another as members of the Christian community. Jesus speaks about correcting someone who has sinned against us, about reconciliation, about the authority of the Church, and finally about the power of prayer and the presence of Christ among His people.

At first, this Gospel may seem to be mainly about confronting someone who has done something wrong. But if we listen carefully, we discover that Jesus is teaching us something much deeper: how to love one another enough to seek reconciliation rather than division.

If your brother or sister sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. Jesus asks us to do: go personally. He does not say, 'Tell everyone what happened.' He does not say, 'Tell about that person behind his or her back.' He does not say, 'Get angry and cut the person out of your life.' He says, "Go". There is courage in going to someone personally. It is much easier to complain about someone than to speak honestly with that person. It is easier to gossip than to have a difficult conversation. It is easier to hold resentment in our hearts than to take the first step toward healing.

When Jesus tells us to correct someone, He is not giving us permission to judge or condemn others. Christian correction must always begin with love and concern for the person. There is a difference between correcting someone because we want to help them and correcting someone because we want to prove that we are right. The purpose of correction is not humiliation. The purpose is restoration. The goal is not to destroy a relationship. The goal is to heal it. The goal is not to win an argument. The goal is to win back our brother or sister.

Jesus says, "If the member listens to you, you have regained that one." Jesus wants us to recover people, not discard them. Our society often teaches us the opposite. When someone disappoints us, we may say, "I am finished with that person." When someone hurts us, we may immediately block them, avoid them or refuse to speak to them.

The Gospel also challenges one of the most destructive habits in any community: gossip. When someone hurts us, our first instinct may be to tell somebody else. Gossip rarely solves problems. It usually multiplies them. Jesus gives us a better way: speak first to the person concerned. This requires humility. Perhaps we misunderstood what happened. Perhaps the other person did not intend to hurt us. Perhaps there is something we do not know. A personal conversation can bring clarity where gossip only creates suspicion.

And if we truly have been hurt, speaking directly gives the other person an opportunity to understand, apologize and change. There is a practical lesson here for every family, parish, workplace and community. If we have something to say, let us say it with charity, with honesty and with the desire to heal. Reconciliation requires patience. We must pray for the grace to know when to speak, what to say and when to remain silent.

Jesus is telling us that He is present in the community that gathers in His name. He is present when a family comes together in prayer. He is present when two people who have been fighting decide to sit and talk. If Christ is present among us, then the person who annoys us is not merely an annoyance. That person is someone whom God loves.

And when we do not know what to do, He is still there. May the Lord give us humble hearts that can admit our mistakes, courageous hearts that can speak the truth with love, merciful hearts that can forgive and patient hearts that can speak reconciliation.