There is power in a unity that has its basis in goodness and divine truth.
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.
This is the great good Jesus is protecting when he tells us that we must forgive others as we have been forgiven, as we pray in the Our Father. It is what is lacking the unforgiving servant in that parable.
If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
We are not called to wait until the brother who has done wrong comes to us. We are called to be the one who initiates, the one he tries to set things right again. In this we are called to be like God who loved us while we were yet sinners (see Romans 5:8). Still more, then, if it is reversed, if we are in the wrong, should we seek out or brother to ask for his forgiveness.
So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift (see Matthew 5:23-24).
In either case, objective third parties can help. Referring to the Church as the basis of truth which we can know and share in common can help us to overcome the limits of our personal biases and selfish perspectives. The Church is the one who can ultimately loosen the sins with which we hold ourselves and others bound. To do so, to unite all mankind in the praise of the glory of God, is precisely her mission. There is no way to this unity and wholeness which actively rejects the place in which God meant it to be found.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
It is the Church, in forgiving our sins, that marks us with the sign of the cross, the "Thau" marked on our foreheads, as the first reading describes it. God marks those who mourn over the abominations of sin and unforgiveness. Those without this mark undergo the judgment of God. Yet even this judgment, just as treating those who will repent as a Gentile or a tax collector, is meant to be a severe mercy that brings awareness to the need to repent. It is nothing other than the father of the prodigal son letting him take his inheritance and go and learn his lesson the hard way. That father is the same one who is so quick to run to him and embrace him when he returns. This is the call we are meant to imitate today.
From the rising to the setting of the sun
is the name of the LORD to be praised.
Jars Of Clay - They Will Know We Are Christians
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