Monday in the Twentieth Week of Ordinary Time, August 16, 2021

Matthew 19:16-22

A young man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, what good must I do to gain eternal life?” He answered him, “Why do you ask me about the good? There is only One who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” He asked him, “Which ones?” And Jesus replied, “You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  The young man said to him, “All of these I have observed. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this statement, he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

“What good must I do to gain eternal life?” The possibility of eternal life with Almighty God in the company of the angels and the saints should overwhelm our minds when we think of it. The human body can seem very strong when taken care of properly, but only in comparison with other human bodies not so well cared for, or which are older or infirm. In fact, it can be felled by creatures that can be seen only in microscopes. Ultimately, as Psalm 90, 10 reminds us: The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. So if the body is so frail — made of dust, as Genesis teaches — how strong can the human soul be? How can we possibly aspire to eternal life? 

God created man as a composite of physical body and spiritual soul: “The Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (Genesis 2, 7). God first created the body, but the body did not become alive until God breathed “the breath of life” into him. This “breath” is the soul, and the soul remains staunchly attached to the body until it dies. But the soul does not doe with the body. God created the human soul in a separate distinct act according to Genesis. This reaches us that the soul itself is distinct from the body, and whereas the body will die because it is made from what is physical, the soul will not because it is not made of that which is physical. The soul does not die, the soul lives forever. But through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ our bodies will be reconstituted by the angels and our souls rejoined to them, never to be separated in death again. Those who lived according to faith in Christ will enjoy everlasting happiness while those who rejected the love of God will suffer in eternal hell. 

So the soul, once created by an act of God, lives forever because it consists of spirit and not anything physical that will eventually fall apart and disappear, it is made in such a way that hat it cannot stop existing.

Jesus answers the young man’s question: “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” How simple the answer is! And these commandments are known, there is nothing secret about them that we should worry about breaking one without knowing it. Furthermore. the Holy Spirit provides us the grace we need in order to follow the commandments perfectly throughout our lives. And within the life of each believer in Jesus there is a further call to perfection, a constant pull or tugging to some particular work the Lord wills for us to do. In the case of the young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” Others may be called to marriage and raising a family and to some particular life-long work, or to live the single life, glorifying God in the practice of the virtues and in Christian witness. We are tugged, but not forced, and as the young man does, we can walk away. But walking away from Christ does not bring the soul to eternal happiness.

While we live in our bodies let us care for our souls, nourishing them with the sacraments and strengthening them through prayer.

The 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, August 16, 2026

Matthew 15: 21-28

At that time Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman of that district came and called out, “Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.” But he did not say a word in answer to her. His disciples came and asked him, “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.” He said in reply, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But the woman came and did him homage, saying, “Lord, help me.” He said in reply, “It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.” Then Jesus said to her in reply, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.

The city of Tyre lies thirty-nine miles from the Sea of Galilee, and Sidon several miles north of Tyre, a fairly formidable distance on foot, with rugged country to navigate.  St. Matthew does not say that Jesus traveled as far as Tyre, but only to the region, so perhaps this journey did not go the full distance.  His destination in the region remains a mystery, unless he meant to visit a synagogue in a town of that country.  Matthew does say that Jesus “withdrew”, which is one of the two main ways to translate the Greek verb here.  Another way would be to say that the Lord “retired” there.  As Matthew tells it, Jesus and his Apostles went directly from Jerusalem to the region of Tyre and Sidon, “withdrawing” or “retiring” there.  It is intriguing that he did not simply “withdraw” back to Galilee.  Perhaps Jesus wanted to spend some time in a place where he would not be thronged by crowds of people.  His Apostles would have benefitted from the respite, and he would have the opportunity to teach them privately.  Matthew does not tell us how long he spent there.

Mostly, the inhabitants of that place worshipped a mix of the old Phoenician gods and the imported Greek gods.  Matthew does not call them “Gentiles” but “Canaanites”, an anachronistic term.  The equivalent would be to call the Jews of the Lord’s time “Hebrews”.  Matthew does this in order to point up the ancient enmity that existed between these descendants of the original inhabitants of the Promised Land and the Hebrews who entered it under Joshua.  This has implications for what follows.

“Have pity on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is tormented by a demon.”  The reputation of Jesus has penetrated to this pagan land from Galilee, or perhaps Jesus had performed some miracles among the few Jews who lived in the area.  Whatever the case, this “Canaanite” woman is very certain that the Lord can help her.  She may not know his name, for she does not use it.  But she does call him “Lord”.  It is significant that she acknowledges this Jew as her Lord, for it shows the desperation of her situation.  The Phoenicians were a proud people with a long and storied history.  They regarded the Israelites as below them.  She shouts out for all to hear that her daughter is “tormented by a demon”.  This may mean that her daughter was suffering from a curse, an evil spell, or from demonic possession.  This latter was not confined merely to the Jews.  Matthew does not say that the girl was present with her mother and so we might surmise that she was confined st home.  

“But he did not say a word in answer to her.”  This lack of response from Jesus would not have surprised the Jews of the time, who mixed as little with the Gentiles as they could.  Even speaking with them was done only out of necessity.  “Send her away, for she keeps calling out after us.”  The Apostles are annoyed with the shouting, or that it is a Gentile woman who is doing it.  We can see here two competing prayers made to the Lord.  Both are reasonable requests.  The woman earnestly desires her daughter’s deliverance, and the Apostles want to be free of an annoyance that could possibly draw an angry crowd against them.  “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  Presumably Jesus answers her in Greek, which would most likely have her language.  In referring to the “house of Israel” Jesus uses a term found in the law and the prophets, but which had no real meaning at the time in which he was speaking: there was Judah and Galilee, but no Israel.  Again, this points out the conflict between the two peoples.  “But the woman came and did him homage, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ ”  First, she publicly calls this Jewish man “Lord”, and now she renders him homage, perhaps bowing low to the ground and even lying prostrate.  Her prayer becomes more direct: “Lord, help me.”

“It is not right to take the food of the children and throw it to the dogs.”  To us this seems a very harsh way to speak, but it reflects the attitude of a Jew of the time towards a Gentile.  We note here too that Jesus speaks to her as a haughty lord would speak to his slave.  He has accepted her naming him “Lord”, but he acts as though he were merely the Lord of the Jews.  “Please, Lord, for even the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their masters.”  The woman shows herself a quick-thinker with her clever rejoinder, but she has also humbled herself to the lowest point possible.  First, she calls him Lord; second, she renders him homage; third, she accepts his calling her a “dog”.  She is not even the slave of this Lord, but beneath even that.  With this admission, Jesus astonishes all by answering, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.”  He credits her with faith, for only belief in him as Lord could result in such humility, and he delivers her daughter from the demon.  He does this without causing scandal for her by entering her home (she could not have let him in without her husband present, and if she had been married, her husband would have gone to Jesus instead of her), and without incurring uncleanness through his doing so, in the same way as was done with the Gentile centurion’s servant.  And in performing this miracle the Lord heals the rift between the Jews and this people, the descendants of Noah’s son Canaan, signifies by the final words of this reading: “And her daughter was healed from that hour.”  Jesus shows himself as much their Lord and Savior as that of the Jews, from whom, at this time, he had “withdrawn”.  

We see in this reading how Jesus answers prayer.  He desires our heartfelt acknowledgment of him as Lord, homage, and complete submission to his will while confessing our unworthiness.  Jesus answers the prayer of his Apostles too, although in a way they had not expected: by casting out the demon from afar, he sends the woman away, back to her home.

The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saturday, August 15, 2026

Luke 1, 39–56

Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”  And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. From this day all generations will call me blessed: the Almighty has done great things for me and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel for he has remembered his promise of mercy, the promise he made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.”  Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

We celebrate today the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven.  Although not revealed in Scripture, belief in her Assumption is attested to in accounts handed down by the early Church.  The general gist of these is that at the end of her life on earth the Holy Spirit gathered the Apostles from the parts of the world in which they were preaching and brought them to her bedside.  After speaking to them of her desire to be reunited with her Son and assuring them of her prayers, she died and shortly thereafter was interred in a stone tomb.  Three days afterwards the Apostles opened her tomb to find her body gone.  Because these accounts speak of the “death” of Mary, the Greeks call their celebration of her entrance into heaven “the Dormition”, that is, the “sleeping” of Mary.  In the West, it was popularly believed that the Blessed Virgin did not die but that she was taken up into heaven while still alive, much as our Savior ascended into heaven after his Resurrection.  The oldest surviving evidences of the feast commemorating this event say that it was kept in August by monks in Palestine and in Egypt around the year 500, and from those places it spread into the West.  The doctrine of the Assumption continued to be taught through the ages and was formally defined by infallible decree by Pius XII in 195o.  The decree left open the question of whether the Blessed Virgin suffered physical death or not, but in the end what matters is that God took her to himself, body and soul, at the end of her life on earth.

This wondrous event is much celebrated in art.  One of the greatest paintings in human history is that of Titian’s “Assumption”.  A close study of the Virgin’s face as she is transported to heaven, surrounded by angels, powerfully reveals the awe and unworthiness that she must have felt, while, beneath her, the Apostles shrink back, marveling at the sight, St. John alone reaching his arms to her in his longing to be with her.  The Virgin herself is a wonderfully natural looking woman dressed in lush red and blue against a glowing gold field of light which grows a fuller hue as she nears the Father.  Her arms are extended upwards and bent at the elbows, as though she were praying, preparing to embrace, and yet gently protesting, all at the same time.  She is presented in a flowing red dress and swirling full length blue cape, but without a crown or even a halo, traditional elements representing sanctity.  The simplicity of her appearance allows for her to be seen as she saw herself, a mere handmaiden. 

The core of the Gospel reading for this solemnity consists of the Virgin’s outburst of praise to Almighty God in thanksgiving for his choosing her to be the Mother of his Son.  In Latin, the first word of her praise is Magnificat, literally, “it magnifies”, as in, “My soul magnifies the Lord: my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”  Thus, her prayer is known as the Magnificat.  From at least the sixth century it has been prayed daily at Vespers as a culmination of the praise offered at that office.  Settings exist for it in Gregorian chant, and it has been set to music by the greatest composers, including Palestrina, Monteverdi, Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, and Rachmaninoff.  Each of these compositions is magnificent and even majestic, and they are often performed.  I find that of these, the Palestrina most movingly evokes the mystery of the Assumption, while the Bach, with its abundant brass, is a celebration of the Virgin’s glory.

At the heart of the Magnificat is the theme of reversal, that God in his mercy casts down the rich and raises up the poor, that he humbles the proud and gives pride of place to the humble.  In all of this, we see Mary’s faith in God and in his promises.  She herself, a young peasant girl in a small town, is lifted up by God to hold within her chaste womb his only Son.  Nowhere in her prayer does she extol her own virtues, and only speaks of herself as being blessed by all generations to come in order to emphasize how unheard of, unprecedented, it is that God has sent his Son among us.

On the occasion of this Solemnity let us meditate on the stupendous act the Lord has performed in raising up the Virgin Mary, body and soul, into heaven, and to pray that through her intercession, by the grace of God, we may join her there.

Friday in the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 14, 2026

The Feast of St. Maximillian Kolbe

Matthew 19, 3-12

Some Pharisees approached Jesus, and tested him, saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?” He said in reply, “Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male and female and said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.” They said to him, “Then why did Moses command that the man give the woman a bill of divorce and dismiss her?” He said to them, “Because of the hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not so. I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and marries another commits adultery.” His disciples said to him, “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.” He answered, “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted. Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”

The Pharisees, like members of other self-assured political and religious movements, did not ask questions in order to learn something new, as we saw St. Peter doing in yesterday’s reading.  They only asked questions for ulterior purposes.  In asking their question about marriage in today’s reading, they seek to pin Jesus into revealing what movement he belonged to, but their primary objective is to trap him in advocating for a teaching contrary to their view on the Mosaic Law: St. Matthew says that they “tested him”.  The Greek word may also be translated as “they tempted him”, as in, they tempted him to espouse an extreme view which would lose him his followers.

“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause whatever?”  If the law of Moses is read strictly, the answer is no, not for just “any cause”.  The following passage is the most quoted as indicative of the attitude of Moses regarding divorce: “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house . . .” (Deuteronomy 24, 1).  The passage as a whole prohibits the man who has divorced his wife from remarrying her if she is divorced from a subsequent husband, but the quoted words shows that divorce existed among the Israelites before God gave the law to them through Moses, and that it is permitted only when “some indecency” is found in her.  The meaning of these words is disputed, but what is clear is that some very grave reason must exist for such an action to be taken.  The woman is permitted to marry again (for her own survival), and the man too (for the sake of begetting children, which would ensure the survival of his name into the future).  It was permitted, then, but we see the divine will here when the Lord God spoke thus through the Prophet Malachi: “The Lord was witness to the covenant between you and the wife of your youth . . . she is your companion and your wife by covenant . . . so take heed to yourselves, and let none be faithless to the wife of his youth. For I hate divorce, says the Lord the God of Israel” (Malachi 2, 14-16).  

At the time of Jesus, two scholarly opinions conflicted on the matter.  The most recent one, held by the Jewish teacher Hillel, allowed for greater flexibility in causes for divorce, while the traditional teaching held otherwise.  The Pharisees are interested in forcing the Lord Jesus into revealing his sympathies for or against Hillel.  The Lord, however, goes to the very heart of the matter: “What God has joined together, man must not separate.”  That is, the unity in marriage is the work of God, not of human beings.  It can never be the work of human beings because it is a unity.  Unity differs from every other kind of relationship because it exists on the level of being.  All other relationships exist on the level of proximity, common interests, (mere) physical attraction, business, or some other passing thing, and can be readily dissolved if they become no longer necessary or convenient.  This reality is illustrated when the Lord says, “Therefore, what God has joined together, man must not separate.”  Death alone can dissolve this unity.  The disciples reacted strongly to this, to the point of hyperbole: “If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”  We see here how the teachings of Hillel had filtered into the communities from which the Lord’s disciples came.  But the Lord does not actually answer this complaint.  He has spoken and he will not back down from his teaching nor provide further elaboration.  

He does, however, teach regarding a related topic.  He prefaces this topic by saying, “Not all can accept this word, but only those to whom that is granted.”  This makes it clear that he has turned from the subject of marriage and divorce to a subject regarding which there is some subjectivity.  He then proceeds: “Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven.”  That is, not all people are called to marriage.  According to the Mosaic Law, a man who could not procreate because of a physical impediment (castration, for instance) “shall not enter the assembly of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 23, 1), and so could not marry.  And then there are those who have “renounced marriage” for the kingdom of heaven.  At that time, the Lord could have pointed to John the Baptist and also himself as prime exemplars of this.  Later, St. Paul will advocate for celibacy among the early Christians as allowing them to most fully prepare for the second coming 1 Corinthians 7, 7).  The Lord, having presented this teaching, then reiterates, “Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”  That is, the one who is called to celibacy for the sake of the kingdom of heaven ought to be celibate.  By linking the teaching on marriage with that of celibacy, the Lord shows that there are two life callings for his disciples, that both have divine origins, and that both have the kingdom for their ends, as he himself has approved them. 

It is worth noting that on two occasions we see the Lord’s disciples complain strongly about his teachings: once here, regarding marriage, and once regarding the doctrine of his Body and Blood (John 6, 60).  

We celebrate today the feast of St. Maximillian Kolbe, and recall that is celibacy allowed him the freedom to offer his life for that of another prisoner at Auschwitz.

Thursday in the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 13, 2026

Matthew 18, 21–19:1

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the Kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.” When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.

In yesterday’s reading, the Lord Jesus explained to his Apostles what they are to do when one believer sins against another.  The Lord details a process by which the offender might reflect and then ask forgiveness.  St. Peter follows this with a question: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?”  Peter asks a good question.  His concern is that someone may take advantage of another believer’s willingness to forgive by continuously wronging him, as in stealing from him.  Jesus seldom gives yes or no answers to the questions posed him and he does not do so here.  He answers with a parable.  He wants the Apostles to understand forgiveness, which has its source in the forgiveness God offers.

The king in the parable is settling accounts with his servants, ministers of his court.  He finds that one servant owes him “a huge amount”.  St. Matthew actually records the amount Jesus gave, but the translator chose not to give this, which is unfortunate.  According to the Greek text, the servant owed “10,000 talents”.  Now, a talent was a weight of silver — approximately 125 pounds.  Checking the newspapers today we can see that silver trades for about $28 an ounce.  If we calculate from this the sum owed by the servant, we arrive at the stupendous figure of $560,000,000.  That is, over half a billion dollars.  We can imagine Peter’s jaw dropping upon hearing this.  Jesus includes a bizarre element  in his parables, and this is one.  It is, in fact a ludicrous amount of money because even if a king could have possessed it at that time, he would hardly have loaned it to a servant.  And if he had, what could the servant have possibly bought with it?  He would hardly have remained a servant.  But Jesus is making a point here.  A king had loaned an impossible amount of money to a servant and now he wanted it back, with interest.  The servant cannot repay it.  Has he wasted the money?  He seems to have lost it all, at any rate.  In such a case, the king quite lawfully ordered “him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.”  

“The servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ ”  In a panic, the servant cried out for mercy.  We do not feel sympathetic towards the servant because of his foolishness, although we do for his innocent wife and children.  And we would not expect the king to have compassion on him, but the king does.  Jesus here features a second bizarre element: by forgiving this foolish servant his debt, the king seems to show himself foolish — he has just written off half a billion dollars.  Other servants, looking on, perhaps would have felt encouraged to seek large loans from this king as well.

This king, of course, is God, who is ever ready to forgive us our sins.  Our sins are enormous debts we incur — enormous because of their number and also because of the majesty of the One against whom we sin.  No acts we might undertake, no deeds we can do, can pay off this debt.  It only is forgiven if God forgives it.  If he does not forgive it, then in effect he hands the offender “to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt”, which is to say, never.  Now, the servant’s wife and children, that is, the sinner’s friends and associates, would not have joined him in prison in this event, but would have remained free to raise money for him.  In this case, however, their efforts would have been fruitless.  This is why prayers do not avail for the damned: those in hell did not approach the king for forgiveness while there was still time.  

Let us note what the servant does so that the king forgives his debt: he pleads earnestly for mercy, and he promises to make up for it.  Now, all is dependent on the merciful disposition of the king, but if we know that we have a merciful king, then we can hope for forgiveness if we apply to his mercy: we beg forgiveness from our heart, and we promise to make up for the harm we have caused as best as we can.  Implicit in this promise is one to never offend again in any way.

The Lord shows through this parable that if God graciously extends his mercy to us even though we can never pay him what we owe, that is, we cannot “make up” for our sins on our own, how gladly we ought to forgive one another.  The relief we should experience in the forgiveness of our sins by Almighty God should be so great that we hardly notice the sins others commit against us.

“Unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”  The Lord does not tell us to insist on an apology as a condition for our offering forgiveness, and in this way he tells us that the forgiveness does not necessarily affect the sinner, but always the one who is sinned against.  To forgive is to renounce revenge against one who has caused harm, and frees the one who forgives from the slavery to which vengeance always leads.  Significantly, Matthew points out that just after Jesus teaches this lesson, he embarks for Judea in order to die there for the forgiveness of our sins, and where he will give the greatest example of forgiveness: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23, 24), which he prayed as men crucified him.

If we meditate deeply on the forgiveness tendered by the Son, we will more readily forgive as well, and conform ourselves to him more and more.

Revelation Part 6, Conclusion

 Revelation part 6, conclusion:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sidrRUkoF85-Rxk15lUGuYD34qPpjPdV/view?usp=drivesdk

Wednesday in the Nineteenth Week of Ordinary Time, August 12, 2026

Matthew 18:15-20

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, so that every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 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. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 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.” 

We see here the Lord Jesus promulgating laws regarding the functioning of his Church.  Previously we saw him refining or strengthening laws that involved virtue and sin.  In this reading he gives laws for the proper functioning of the organized body of his followers.  This tells us that after three years of public ministry, his followers have coalesced into a fairly consistent and fairly large group of men and women out of the enormous crowds which heard his preaching and witnessed his miracles earlier.  It is now necessary to establish rules for order, especially as the Lord directs his flock towards the future.

It is interesting to hear our Lord speak on procedural matters, and to compare what he says here with, say, God’s instructions to Moses on how a person may become ritually impure and then how he may purify himself again.  Jesus begins his instruction on the lowest level of contact between the sinner and the person against whom he sinned.  If the person who committed the sin expresses sorrow for the sin, having come to his senses, then the matter closes.  If not, it can gradually become a matter for Church leadership.  This would include sins committed directly against a person or persons as well as the sin of scandal.  For the latter, we have an example of how St. Paul acted.  In 1 Corinthians 5, 1, Paul speaks of a man professing Christianity while living with his mother as though she were his wife.  The sin is not directed against him, but it is a scandal, and Paul takes action, and has judged “to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh” (1 Corinthians 5, 5).  This is completely in line with the final sentence that Jesus commands to take in the face of an unrepentant sinner: “treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.”  That is, have nothing to do with this person.  Do not even talk to him.  This is done to show the sinner the seriousness of what he has done in order to bring him back to he fold, but also as a matter of justice as well as to protect other believers from him.

“Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  This must have stunned the Apostles, and they probably did not understand this at the time.  Jesus will say this again to them after his Resurrection but only with the Descent of the Holy Spirit will they begin to appreciate what this means.  In short, it means that they will stand in for Christ among his followers after the Ascension and speak with the same authority with which he spoke.

“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.”  In the context of the Lord’s words, we must understand that he is speaking of praying for spiritual necessities such as graces and that which will lead to the conversion of souls and the glory of God.  “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”  The Lord reminds us here that following him is a social activity, not a solitary one.  We members of his Body walk towards him, making progress day by day, and we walk together, helping one another, consoling and correcting, as needed.