Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time. September 7th 2020

September 7^th 2020. The Twenty-third Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Matthew 16, 21-27

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

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Don Fabio’s homily follows the Gospel

GOSPEL: Matthew 16, 21-27

‘If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother.
If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you:
the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge.

‘But if he refuses to listen to these,
report it to the community;
and if he refuses to listen to the community,
treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.

‘I tell you solemnly, whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven.

‘I tell you solemnly once again, if two of you on earth agree to ask anything at all, it will be granted to you by my Father in heaven.
For where two or three meet in my name, I shall be there with them.’

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

 

Summary . . . Jesus tells us that if we ask for anything in his name, it will be granted. Really? Then why do our prayers every Sunday in church seem to have such little result? The problem is not so much what we ask for, but the MANNER  in which we do the asking. How distracted and automatic are our prayers in church! We show more attention when we click “ok” to accept cookies on the internet. The thing that is lacking the most in our prayer is COMMUNION. When that communion appears, God appears and our prayers are effective. Gatherings, assemblies, reunions are not necessarily communions! People standing in the same geographical location is not a communion! Fraternal communion is so important that Jesus gives instructions at the beginning of this Gospel passage for how to resolve differences with a brother or sister. The objective of all of this effort is to gain a brother. Some people do everything for money or fame, but Jesus wants us to do everything to gain brothers and sisters!  By the way, does Jesus in this Gospel tells us to shun those who remain stubbornly in error? No! People rejected Jesus and crucified him, but he didn’t shun them, he laid down his life for them! When Jesus says, “let them be to you like the pagan or tax collector”, let us recall that Jesus died for the pagan and tax collector.

 

Jesus tells us that if we ask for anything in his name, it will be granted. Really? Then why do our prayers every Sunday in church seem to have such little result? The problem is not so much what we ask for, but the manner in which we do the asking.

"If two of you on earth agree to ask for anything, my Father who is in heaven will grant it to you." Our attention is naturally drawn to the words "anything", and we are intrigued by the greatness of the promise: could we really ask for anything? Even an end of all war? These words of Jesus seem to say that there is no limit to the power of prayer. This leaves us perplexed, because it seems too unrealistic. Don’t the facts seem to show the opposite? Every Sunday, enormous things are asked in the prayers of the faithful, but with what result? However, maybe the central issue that Jesus wishes to emphasize is not the power of the request, but the previous condition: "If two of you on earth come to an agreement". The strength of prayer does not come from the things we ask for, but the manner in which we ask. If there is communion between brothers, union of hearts, unity of purpose, then we have prayer that is effective.

 

How distracted and automatic are our prayers in church! The thing that is lacking the most in our prayer is communion. When that communion appears, God appears.

If we examine our Sunday assemblies with the reading of prefabricated prayers of the faithful, we see that often the reader and the congregation are not really praying together with a communion of hearts. The crowd responds “Lord hear us” in a distracted and automatic way, with no more attention than the ok we give to cookies on a website. Did we ask for an end to all wars? Yup? Really? We see that prayer of this sort is useless because it is not prayer at all, just noise coming from our mouths. Sometimes, during these assemblies, we do indeed pray from the heart, but it still may not be a prayer done in communion with our brothers and sisters. The thing we are lacking most in the Church and which renders prayer, preaching and our presence in the world ineffective, is communion among us. When that communion appears, God appears. "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." Not "together in the same place", but "gathered in my name".

 

Gatherings, assemblies, reunions are not necessarily communions

If we meet for afternoon tea, a business meeting, or a local community gathering, then what we have is a geographical coincidence, not communion. Sometimes we attend Church as if we were going to the supermarket: everyone takes out of it the things that they need, sometimes just the appeasing of conscience - because they feel guilty if they don't go to Mass. But what Christ wants is communion between us. When that communion is a reality, he gives us what we ask for, because when we are in communion we ask for beautiful things. For this reason, the first part of the Gospel speaks of fraternal relationships, especially with brothers who are in error: "If he listens to you, you will have gained your brother". You try to sort it out with him alone, then you ask for help from others, and finally you talk about it to the community in order to restore the relationship. There are those who give everything to earn money or fame. And then there are those who earn brothers! In truth, for this communion, you would do anything.

 

Does Jesus tells us to shun those who remain stubbornly in error? No! When people rejected Jesus and crucified him, he laid down his life for them! When Jesus says, “let them be to you like the pagan or tax collector”, let us remember that Jesus died for the pagan and tax collector.

A final note: Jesus says that if our brother still refuses to listen, "let him be for you like a pagan or a tax collector". Does this mean that we are to shun him? No! In the Gospel, the pagan and the tax collector are the ones we are asked to love even when they don't listen. They are the ones for whom to give one's life because it is the only way to touch their hearts. At the crucifixion, many people in Jerusalem shouted, “Crucify him!” Did Jesus shun them? No he died for them, and at Pentecost these same people became the first Christians.