My Dear People,

Today the reading deals with fraternal correction. The gospel tells us the right way to deal with fraternal correction. First one must deal with the fellow disciple privately. Why? This allows the other person to apologize and recant if he has said something wrong. Sometimes there may be a misunderstanding, and dealing with the other person privately helps clear the air before it becomes a big issue and gets other people involved.

We may wonder why this was said in the Gospel. We can see from our experience that when someone is offended by what someone says, the individual usually does not resolve it privately, but goes on to tell others of how bad this person was for saying this or that. That is the opposite of what the gospel tells us. The matter must be settled first privately. Some people are afraid to face the accuser and try to solve the difficulty, the insult, the misunderstanding. Avoidance does not make it go away. It escalates the situation, and it comes out in undesirable ways. The next time that this individual is offended by the other individual, he accumulates evidence and “keeps score” of how many times he is offended. This is adding evidence to think negative thoughts about the other individual.

Keeping score and thinking negative thoughts about any individual is contrary to the Gospel. It foments negativity and hatred in one’s heart, and in the long process does not solve the situation but makes enemies. Negative thinking never leads to solutions, whether one thinks of this by oneself or shares this with another who sympathizes with his own plight.

What are the processes that the Gospel teaches us?

1. Fraternal correction. Seek the person privately and if he listens to you, the gospel says you have won over your brother, indicating that something valuable –a fellow disciple—was regained. This reflects the shepherd recovering the lost sheep.
2. Witness. If the first stage bears no fruit, take one or two others along with you. This reflects the principle of multiple witnesses in Deut. 9:15, which Jesus quotes. The inclusion of witnesses in the process is meant to heighten the sinner’s awareness of the seriousness of his or her situation and hopefully to bring him or her to repent.
3. The Church. If, however the brother or sister still refuses to repent, tell the church. The church disciplinary involvement serves as a pastoral purpose, to help the disciple in his or her efforts to reconcile the sinner. However, if he or she refuses to listen to the church, then he or she is to be excluded from the church and treated as a Gentile or tax collector. The pastoral goal is to awaken the sinner by showing that his or her actions have put him or her outside the community of believers.

This was the purpose of the inquisition in Spain. The church designated two religious priests, a Dominican and a Franciscan, to investigate individuals so that they would not be prosecuted for being heretics without giving them a chance to repent and change their hearts and thus reconcile with the church. The church intervening was for the accused heretics to recant their statements and thus avoid executions. If they refused, then they were given over to civil authorities who treated the heretics much more harshly. The purpose of the church was to intervene and allow the individual to repent, thus restoring the individual to the proper graces of the church. The primary purpose of the Inquisition was to give the individuals an opportunity of repentance and mercy.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Vincent Clemente