“Thus says the LORD:  ‘You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel;
when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me. . . . if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.'”  EZ 33:7-9

“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. . . .
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. . . . 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.’”  MT 18:15-20

Both the reading from Ezekiel and the one from Matthew, make clear that each of us has an obligation to provide fraternal correction, not only for the sake of the individual but also for the sake of the community.  The Gospel story continues this theme, suggesting a process for this fraternal correction.  After each step the “corrector” is to assess whether the person “listened” or “refused to listen.”  If the person listens, success. If the person refuses to listen, try again and again, if need be, but with help from other carefully chosen members of the community.

Why is fraternal correction of importance in our day, when society seems to value personal acceptance over rejection?  Because fraternal correction is not rejection.  It is loving encouragement, which, as Pope Francis reminds us, we all, himself included, need because we are all sinners and, at times, in need of fraternal correction.

We should not be embarrassed that we sometimes need this.  Our God is a community of Persons, a Trinity, and God created us to be a community-centered people with all humanity, past, present and future.  Our culture, with its emphasis on the freedom of the individual tends to lead us to forget that, at our God-indwelling core, we are more communal than we are individual!  We should be grateful that we have others in our lives who are journeying with us and who are helping us in our common journey from self-centeredness to God-centeredness and other-centeredness.

Every community and every family has members who, at one time or another, are unable to listen and in the Gospel story Jesus shows that he knows how painful it is to us when, after repeated attempts, a person “refuses to listen.”  Jesus says “treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”  At first, that sounds like Jesus is putting down Gentiles and tax collectors, but we all know that Jesus doesn’t put down anyone, even the Pharisees who want to kill Him.  A better interpretation may be that Jesus is telling us to recognize that a person, family member or community member, unable to listen, may appear to be as different from a devout Jew as is a Gentile or tax collector, but that person is still to be respected and sincerely included in our prayer.

Let us spend some time thinking about the places where fraternal correction may be needed in ourselves and in our families and church communities.  I have many people in my life who now and over the years have been fraternal correctors for me.  I value them and the graces of conversion and growth that have come to me and still come to me through their helpful guidance.

Sister Loretta