The first reading tells us that the son of Man is appointed as the watchman for the house of Israel. This watchman must warn the people of anything the Lord warns about. He is a mediator. This of course is a foreshadowing of Jesus who is the one mediator between God and man. Many Protestants often present the lie that we place Mary as a mediator between God and man, effectively replacing Jesus. This is not so. Jesus is the one and only mediator between His Father and humanity. Mary mediates to her Son Jesus on our behalf. Jesus, as mediator, pleads for us to His Father for mercy. However, justice must be served when the wicked do not change. God gives chances. Man has to shape up and use those chances to turn away from his wickedness. He must not harden his heart, as the responsorial Psalm tells us.
This Psalm is used in the Liturgy of the Hours for the morning prayer as the invitatory. We begin the day by singing joyfully to the Lord and acclaiming Him as the rock of our salvation. We come into His presence with praise and thanksgiving and sign joyful songs to Him. If we praise and love God, we must show it. We show this by not hardening our hearts like those Hebrews in the desert at Meribah where they still did not believe even though they saw God work. How may times people see or witness God's power and are all joyful. They are elated and in shock praising God. Then a few days or months pass and they forget about it. The sensationalism of the event or experience fades away and they start behaving like they were before the experience. We must be genuine. We must follow the commandments genuinely like the second reading reminds us.
We must owe nothing to anyone other than to love them. This is the only thing Christ commands. We must love one another. This love cannot exhibit evil. It must be authentic. Again, this all goes down to reconciliation. Some Catholics seem to ignore this important feature of the faith. How many times have I witnessed alleged Catholics on social media block one another over petty things. The Sacerdotus account has been blocked by some as well just for adhering to the teachings of the Catholic Church and pronouncements of Pope Francis. This is not authentic Catholicism. It is a self-made brand some people hold for some psychological purpose. We must be authentic to the true Catholic faith, not one we create.
In the Gospel, Jesus reminds us that we must reconcile with one another. If our brother sins against us, we must bring it to his attention. In other words, we must reach out to makes things straight again and not leave it in the state of animus. If this brother does not listen, then we bring it before other witnesses. If that does not work, then we go to the Church. If he refuses to listen to even the Church, then we must treat him like an outsider. Now, this does not mean shunning the person like the Amish do. It simply means that we leave it in God's hands. We did our best to reconcile and the other party rejected the attempt. It is now our fault now. We tried. They will get their reward just like we will get ours. God is always there watching. Jesus says that when two or three are gathered in His name, He is there in the midst of them. So while we try to reconcile with others present, Jesus is present observing. Similarly, when we gather to pray, have Bible study or engage in some parish activity, Jesus is there present. This is awesome to think about. Right now many parishes are starting their catechism courses for children, teens and adults. When they are gathered to learn the faith, Jesus is there! We must think of this always and always try our best to be Christian with one another; not hold animus and try our best to reconcile when problems do occur. Things happen. Humans are humans. They get emotional, may say bad things without meaning it or something else may happen. However, this should not be the end of things. If we truly believe in Jesus and the Catholic faith, then we must be brotherly and reconcile. Forgive and forget even if they are difficult to do. May Jesus Christ be praised!
Readings:
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090620.cfm
Dear supporters. Covid-19 Coronavirus has hit all of us hard. It has hit the Sacerdotus ministry hard as well. My stipends were cut and donations have slowed down. We are concerned about paying for the domain names we use to host the sites, as well as, not being able to ship Rosaries and other things to people who contact us asking for one. One or two envelopes is not too bad; however, when you have 10 or more asking for Rosaries, the shipping and mailing adds up and is expensive. Please help us by donating to our gofundme here: www.gofundme.com/sacerdotus or by becoming a monthly patron at www.patreon.com/sacerdotus. There are different tiers of membership with unique rewards for being a patron. Moreover, those who become a donating monthly member will be allowed to post on our Faceobok books without limitations, other than the obvious rules for the groups. So please, donate and consider becoming a monthly donor. God will reward your efforts. We are also looking for guest writers for the site and those who can volunteer their graphic and design skills to help create memes and other graphics to post on social media for the purpose of evangelization.
