Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time

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.

When Jesus says to treat a person who sins against us as a Gentile or a tax collector, we should remember how he treated such people... with love. He didn’t ignore them. He didn’t mistreat them. He ate, drank, and stayed with them. He listened to their cries for help and aided them. He forgave them and was merciful toward them. He even converted a few of them, including most notably Matthew. He gave them every opportunity to repent and even if they didn’t... he loved them, saying “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” It is this kind of treatment that Jesus speaks of here and we would do well to remember the need to love even those who sin against us.

Do we treat those who sin against us with love? How can we become more charitable and merciful to those who are unkind to us? When someone sins against us do we follow the suggestions Jesus has given to us?

O Lord, give us the grace to treat those who sin against us with love.

Amen.