[media presentation below] GospelThink Sunday, September 10, Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time MATTHEW 18:15-20 In your relationship with others, be gentle even if you have to correct them. Prayerthoughts a. The Lord gives good psychological advice here. If you have a problem with someone, go to the person and do not talk about it to others. Do I talk to others who are not a professional about others, thus giving into gossiping? b. The idea is that we must be professional in our approach to another. Sometimes we may have to discuss what to do with someone who can help us. But always we must protect the privacy of the person about whom we talk. c. This verse of “going to the Church” is a delicate directive. In today’s world, it might mean going to someone in local spiritual authority, and if the person refuses (even as he/she admits he is wrong), he/she is simply to be placed outside of our concern. Can I think of such an instance in which I might have to follow such a directive? d. The verse “whatever you bind on earth” is debated among scholars as to whether it is given to all ministers of the Church. Whatever it means, in a spiritual sense, am I convinced that I must be sorry for my sins? e. Anytime we think of petitionary prayer, we must always remember that when God answers prayer, as God always does, it is in God’s own time and manner which may not necessarily be what I want. Do I truly understand that? f. God is always present when we gather together. When I do pray together with others, do I think in terms of God truly being present in all of us, and treat each other accordingly? g. My prayerthoughts… Today, I will remember the people that I have gossiped about, and express sorrow for it. Some Thoughts on the Liturgy CONFRONTING / DISAGREEING WITH ANOTHER            Our liturgy today takes up the psychological human need of confronting someone, that is, correcting another, and places the thought in a spiritual context. To consider the thought, here is a story of a classic confrontation.            Let’s say that we are in a state of military rule and we are in a church. Let’s say further that the church has been commandeered into becoming an army barracks. Some of the pews have been taken out, replaced by tables and beds. There is a radio playing, soldiers playing cards, some smoking, some drinking. Such is the exact situation of a scene in the movie “Romero”—produced a number of years ago—that I believe everyone ought to see.            In what may be the most striking scene in the movie, Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador who later was martyred, and is now declared “blessed” in the Catholic Church, deliberately walked between the military people and began to remove the Blessed Sacrament. The army leader fired a machine gun right above his head, and when he ducked, the leader fired into the altar and tabernacle. As the Archbishop bent down to pick up the consecrated hosts, they grabbed him, and threw him out. A little later, Romero and a number of his priests and parishioners came into the Church. The military realized that it would be wholesale murder to stop them, so they let them go. And Romero proceeded to say Mass. Now, that is confrontation, saying to others that they are wrong and doing it in a non-violent way.           There are a couple of things to note about that confrontation. First, the overall context of any confrontation or correction of anyone must be love—love as we heard presented in the second reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans (Romans 13:8-10) today. Romero lived non-violence based on love. If we have the occasion to disagree with someone, or confront someone about whatever, it must always be out of love.            Secondly, before the confrontation occurs, a basic presumption must be in place—namely, that the person must know that he/she is right, before he/she confronts anyone. Romero knew that he was right in what he did. Sometimes it is easy as in Romero’s case, but often it is not so clear. For example, when there are two or more legitimate sides to the situation, when all the facts are not known, etc.—in those cases some discussion may be necessary, but not confrontation. In fact, in our world, I would say that discussion is more necessary than confrontation.            Be that as it may, we should publicly disagree with someone or confront someone only when we are doing it out of love and when we know that we are right. Jesus gives us the process: one on one first; then with the help of another, maybe a Church person; and finally if all else fails, just get out of the circumstances—treating as a Gentile or tax collector—leave them alone, leaving it up to God.           As we think of this, there are a couple of practical things that come to mind. Discussion and confrontation are a must in a marriage, and one of the major problems in marriages is that the two will refuse to talk about some things. Refusal to talk about problems is a mistake, but many couples do it.           Also, one of the things that we do instead of confronting is to talk about the person with whom we have the problem, to someone else who is not a professional. A professional is a separate case, for example therapists and priests who are bound by secrecy. But if that is not the case, then this talking is merely gossip or detraction which is a violation of confidentiality, and we simply should not be talking about it with others; it becomes a sin against charity.           I find it significant that at the close of the Gospel today, Jesus puts this rather difficult directive to correct another in the same area that he talks about prayer. As we pray, we know that Jesus is with us and part of our prayer must be for the grace to understand disagreeing with and confronting another, and how it should happen. MEDIA PRESENTATION Song: “Locked Away” — R City featuring Adam Levine WOULD YOU STILL LOVE ME The Gospel LUKE 23:27-28 [As Jesus was carrying his cross,] a large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children.”

Gospelthink: As I was carrying the cross (along with Simon of Cyrene), I appreciated the concern of some women. Have I appreciated the concern that others show me?

–               “If I got locked away, and we lost it all today, tell me honestly, would you still love me the same? If I showed you my flaws, if I couldn’t be strong, tell me honestly, would you still love me the same?Right about now, if a judge for life me, would you stay by my side? Or is you gonna say goodbye? Can you tell me right now? If I couldn’t buy you the fancy things in life, would it be alright? Come and show me that you are down. Now tell me would you really ride for me? Tell me would you die for me? Would you spend your whole life with me? Would you be there to always hold me down? Tell me would you really cry for me? Don’t lie to me: if I didn’t have anything, I wanna know would you stick around?”

R City and Adam Levine’s song “Locked Away” is an extended question in the form of individual questions that one of the couples in a relationship is asking. It concerns the permanent commitment that the couple is about to make and presents an examination of conscience of sorts for a person who is about to commit him/herself to something, in the song, to marriage. Summarizing the questions into one, one might label it: “Do we intend to make a permanent commitment that will cover every possible situation that will happen?” We, human beings often say words that convey a promise that we never really intend. We may not have thought through exactly what the words mean or could mean in situations that become challenging and difficult. We may think thoughts like “I could never have known this when I said that I was committed to it.” Jesus never had such a moment with his commitment to redeem us. He was our redeemer to the end of his life. It is especially seen at the time of his death. The women who met him on his way to Calvary were despondent when they saw the cruelty of the human beings who caused his suffering. But his words, ever the redeemer and teacher, restated his desire, telling the women not to worry about what was happening to him, but to worry about their own redemptive work in their lives. You and I make permanent commitments. We say to a lover that we will always be devoted to them. We say to the Lord that we will give ourselves to him through thick and thin. We say to a friend that we will never forget them. But our track record often does not match the significance of the words we speak. We must look at the example of the person who committed himself to our redemption or study the words of R City and Adam Levine’s song to honestly understand a true commitment.

PRAYER Good and gracious God, Your Son committed himself to be our Redeemer, and he never backed down from doing it well. Help us to study any words of commitment that we make, and give us the grace to carry them out. Be with us, we pray.

+++++ GUIDE FOR CLASSROOM PRESENTATION AND PERSONAL ENRICHMENT Theme: A true commitment will mean the complete acceptance of whatever happens as part of the commitment. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 1. One of the resolutions to the Gospel of Luke is that “large crowds” must follow Jesus. In your opinion, do Christians follow Jesus as much as they should? Yes or no and why? 2. What does the passion of Jesus Christ teach us? 3. The song could easily be used as part of preparation for marriage. In your opinion, speaking in a general way, do the couples of our world prepare well for marriage? Yes or no and why? 4. Our divorce rate is very high–over 50%. What is the best way to prevent divorce in our world today? 5. Speaking in a general way, do the people of our world understand what a permanent commitment is? Yes or no and why? 6. Why is the excuse “I never knew what I was getting into” not a good one to use to get out of a commitment? 7. In general, why do people use words like “always” and “forever” too much? 8. What does the song “Locked Away” teach young people?