From the Pastor’s desk— November 5, 2023
Today and these last weeks of the Church year (that ends at the Solemnity of Christ the King Nov 26), the readings are full of the prophets and Jesus’ correcting or speaking of the judgment of others. Correction has become in our culture a very difficult action. The act of correcting others is nearly impossible today when at every moment children and even adults feel offended or condemned by a simple suggestion for better or more virtuous behavior.
The first question we must ask is, Do we have the right or responsibility anymore to correct others? The answer depends on how we understand God. If we look at our American (and largely Protestant) culture, the answer more often than not is “no.” Our larger culture often says, “Only God can correct me”, “You’re not the boss of me”, or “that’s none of your business.” If our relationship with God is just Jesus and me, then it is easy to see why people are offended when they are corrected if they feel only God has that right.
Some of this belief also comes from the quoting the gospel of Matthew 7:1, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” Yet correction should not be confused with judging. Judging is an act that condemns another for their actions or equates the sinner with the sin. Correction is rather an action to bring another back into the life of virtue, to ask another to remove the stumbling blocks of sin in their life.
Our Catholic, Christians is the opposite. Our understanding is a communal understanding of God, for everyone who is a member of the family of God is part of the body of Christ. As members of one body, we know that sometimes we have to tell the hands what to do, we have to make sure the feet don’t go in the wrong direction. The question is not, “can we correct others or not?” We not only have the right, we have the responsibility for one another, we are our brother’s keeper (Gen 4:9). The question rather is in “how” we correct others.
Scripture makes it clear; we are to do this with love (I Cor 16:14) and tenderness (II Tim 2:23). Jesus reminds us to do it with humility, “remove the plank from your eye first.” (Matt 7:3) Add to this that Jesus tells us to go to our brother (or sister) privately at first (not in front of others, family or work), and if they don’t change, bring another in, and if they still don’t change then bring it to the Church. (Matt 18:15-17)
It’s funny how we all accept that as humans we all make mistakes, but when we bring mistakes up, especially to our children, they go into a meltdown. Hopefully we can accept corrections as an invitation to be our best self, the person God wants us to be, because like roses, they don’t keep blooming if we don’t trim them.
Parochial administrator
With a heart for Mission,
Fr. Ray