Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time
All too often, we can be tempted to fall into the temptation that all that really matters is, to use a phrase, me and Jesus. Some of my favorite country artists have songs to this effect. Josh Turner sings, “There ain’t nothing that can’t be done by me and God. / Ain’t nobody gonna come between me and God.” And Brad Paisley sings, “Me and Jesus got our own thing goin’ / Me and Jesus got it all worked out. / Me and Jesus got our own thing goin’/ and we don’t need anybody to tell us what it’s all about.” And certainly, we do need to have a personal relationship or connection with Jesus.
Jesus did not ask, “Saul, why do you persecute my people?” or “Why do you persecute my church?” Jesus asked, “Why do you persecute me?”…We are living in an era where people believe in Christ, but not in his Church. They want the king, but not the kingdom; they want to believe without belonging; they want the faith, but not the faithful. But for the committed Catholic, the answer to that is ‘no can do.’ Jesus and the Church are one.
In other words, we are in this together; it’s not just me and Jesus.
And we hear that message in our readings today. We hear about the principle of solidarity, that we have a responsibility for each other. Ezekiel the prophet is the “watchman for the house of Israel.” His duty is to warn the wicked to repent, otherwise not only will they die for their sins, but he will be responsible. If, however, the Ezekiel warns the wicked and they do not repent, they will die, but Ezekiel will save himself.
St. Paul, too, reminds us that God commands us to love one another. In fact, all the commandments about how we should act come down to the command to love our neighbor as ourselves. And when we love our neighbor, we fulfill the law.
Maybe solidarity, our share connection to each other, makes the most sense for married couples. When you celebrated the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, you made a commitment that your life no longer only concerned you. From that point on, your life intertwined with your spouse, first, and then your children. Their happiness is yours; their suffering is yours; their salvation impacts your salvation.
But while St. Thomas Aquinas rightly teaches that our love has different levels (you have a higher responsibility to care for those closest to you than those who are not as close), we still are called to love our neighbor, even when our neighbor isn’t a spouse or family member, or even a friend. Pope St. John Paul II wrote in his Encyclical, Sollicitudo rei socialis that solidarity is not a “feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good. That is to say the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all.” I am my brother’s keeper, in response to Cain’s famous question. In a less powerful way, but still truly, when he succeeds, I succeed; when he fails, I fail. I still have primary responsibility for myself and my family, but my actions towards others impact me, whether I notice the impact or not.
This even extends to what we can call fraternal correction, which we hear about in the Gospel today. Our Lord doesn’t pretend that all of his disciples will always get along. He knows that, as we’re concerned for each other because we are each other’s keeper, we will sometimes need to correct each other in order to preserve unity in the truth in the Body of Christ, the Church.
The key to fraternal correction is charity. One can give correction without truly seeking the good of the other. In fact, giving correction can easily become a power trip of me vs. you masquerading as right vs. wrong. But when we correct others, we need to do so with preparation in prayer first, and with charity throughout the process. Still, because we are connected, we may need to correct others and let them know if they are falling short of living the Gospel.
Fraternal correction becomes most difficult with family. Sometimes it may take someone outside family to do the actual correction. But even if we can’t correct because of a lack of charity or we have a good sense that the other will not listen to us, we should pray for that person.
The key is that we are all connected to each other, especially Catholics with each other. In the Most Blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist, we who are many are united with Christ, and therefore with each other. We call the Eucharist Holy Communion because we have union with Christ first and then each other. But this is only true if we believe the fullness of what Christ has taught and live in accord with how Christ and His Mystical Body, the Church, teaches us. That is why Catholics living contrary to the major teachings of the Church and non-Catholics cannot receive Holy Communion: they are not in union with us. [Waylon, part of the great joy today in you receiving your first Holy Communion, is that you will have a new form of union with Christ, who loves you so much that He wants to be closer to you than any other person will be. But, in order to keep that union with Christ, you will need to follow Him and make sure you keep returning to Mass each Sunday and holyday with your family. Only when we seek to grow in friendship with Christ each week and when we live as He taught us can we truly say that we have union with Christ and receive all the graces that Christ wants to give us through this sacrament].
Our individual relationship with Jesus is important. But it’s not just me and Jesus (or, to be grammatically correct, Jesus and I). If I am joined to Christ through Holy Baptism, then I am also joined to every other baptized person. And if I am part of Christ, then I love and show concern for all those whom God loves, that is, everyone, to the extent that I am able. If we want the king, we also have to take the kingdom; to believe, we must also belong; to have the faith, we also have to take the faithful. Jesus and His Church are one.