The texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today challenge us to address the wrongs we may experience in dealing with our community with compassion and love.
The Reading from the Book of Ezekiel declares The Prophet as Sentinel.
* [33:2] Sentinel: the theme of the sentinel’s duty initiates a new commission to announce salvation (chaps. 33–48), just as the same command (3:17–21) opened Ezekiel’s ministry to announce judgment (chaps. 3–24).
Psalm 95 calls the people to praise and worship God.
* [Psalm 95] Twice the Psalm calls the people to praise and worship God (Ps 95:1–2, 6), the king of all creatures (Ps 95:3–5) and shepherd of the flock (Ps 95:7a, 7b). The last strophe warns the people to be more faithful than were their ancestors in the journey to the promised land (Ps 95:7c–11). This invitation to praise God regularly opens the Church’s official prayer, the Liturgy of the Hours.
The Reading from the Letter of Paul to the Romans declares Love Fulfills the Law.
* [13:8–10] When love directs the Christian’s moral decisions, the interest of law in basic concerns, such as familial relationships, sanctity of life, and security of property, is safeguarded (Rom 13:9). Indeed, says Paul, the same applies to any other commandment (Rom 13:9), whether one in the Mosaic code or one drawn up by local magistrates under imperial authority. Love anticipates the purpose of public legislation, namely, to secure the best interests of the citizenry. Since Caesar’s obligation is to punish the wrongdoer (Rom 13:4), the Christian who acts in love is free from all legitimate indictment.
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus advises how to treat A Brother Who Sins.
* [18:15–20] Passing from the duty of Christian disciples toward those who have strayed from their number, the discourse now turns to how they are to deal with one who sins and yet remains within the community. First there is to be private correction (Mt 18:15); if this is unsuccessful, further correction before two or three witnesses (Mt 18:16); if this fails, the matter is to be brought before the assembled community (the church), and if the sinner refuses to attend to the correction of the church, he is to be expelled (Mt 18:17). The church’s judgment will be ratified in heaven, i.e., by God (Mt 18:18). This three-step process of correction corresponds, though not exactly, to the procedure of the Qumran community; see 1QS 5:25–6:1; 6:24–7:25; CD 9:2–8. The section ends with a saying about the favorable response of God to prayer, even to that of a very small number, for Jesus is in the midst of any gathering of his disciples, however small (Mt 18:19–20). Whether this prayer has anything to do with the preceding judgment is uncertain.
* [18:15] Your brother: a fellow disciple; see Mt 23:8. The bracketed words, against you, are widely attested but they are not in the important codices Sinaiticus and Vaticanus or in some other textual witnesses. Their omission broadens the type of sin in question. Won over: literally, “gained.”
* [18:17] The church: the second of the only two instances of this word in the gospels; see note on Mt 16:18. Here it refers not to the entire church of Jesus, as in Mt 16:18, but to the local congregation. Treat him…a Gentile or a tax collector: just as the observant Jew avoided the company of Gentiles and tax collectors, so must the congregation of Christian disciples separate itself from the arrogantly sinful member who refuses to repent even when convicted of his sin by the whole church. Such a one is to be set outside the fellowship of the community. The harsh language about Gentile and tax collector probably reflects a stage of the Matthean church when it was principally composed of Jewish Christians. That time had long since passed, but the principle of exclusion for such a sinner remained. Paul makes a similar demand for excommunication in 1 Cor 5:1–13.
* [18:18] Except for the plural of the verbs bind and loose, this verse is practically identical with Mt 16:19b and many scholars understand it as granting to all the disciples what was previously given to Peter alone. For a different view, based on the different contexts of the two verses, see note on Mt 16:19.
* [18:19–20] Some take these verses as applying to prayer on the occasion of the church’s gathering to deal with the sinner of Mt 18:17. Unless an a fortiori argument is supposed, this seems unlikely. God’s answer to the prayer of two or three envisages a different situation from one that involves the entire congregation. In addition, the object of this prayer is expressed in most general terms as anything for which they are to pray.
* [18:20] For where two or three…midst of them: the presence of Jesus guarantees the efficacy of the prayer. This saying is similar to one attributed to a rabbi executed in A.D. 135 at the time of the second Jewish revolt: “…When two sit and there are between them the words of the Torah, the divine presence (Shekinah) rests upon them” (Pirqê ’Abôt 3, 3).
Rev. Kent Beausoleil, SJ, comments that Jesus in today’s Gospel of Matthew speaks of this holy and human love as a sense of being righteous – which is different from being self-righteous. A love in action that is ‘righteous’ when we love ourselves and our sisters and brothers from the space of mercy and compassion rather than revenge, or of what can I get out of it.
To love then as God loves isn’t easy but it is something our hearts, our neighbor’s hearts, our world’s heart so desperately needs. We are all human, and so we are beholden to one another, but we may sometimes fear to take that prophetic stand to the unjust powers that be, because we feel what the heck, I’m not perfect. I have no power, who’s going to listen to me.
As humans, with the love of God in Christ by our side, we are more powerful for the good than we can ever imagine. With this divine love of Christ in us and with us may we make our voices be heard, our loving actions felt, and with hearts on fire bring hope to the world. God calls us, us ordinary humans, to grasp our holiness as well, and out of that prophetic and holy courage to fully and finally, all of us together, make a holy and human stand for God, for Good.
Don Schwager quotes “If someone has done you injury,” by Augustine of Hippo (354-430 AD).
"If someone has done you injury and you have suffered, what should be done? You have heard the answer already in today's scripture: 'If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone.' If you fail to do so, you are worse than he is. He has done someone harm, and by doing harm he has stricken himself with a grievous wound. Will you then completely disregard your brother's wound? Will you simply watch him stumble and fall down? Will you disregard his predicament? If so, you are worse in your silence than he in his abuse. Therefore, when any one sins against us, let us take great care, but not merely for ourselves. For it is a glorious thing to forget injuries. Just set aside your own injury, but do not neglect your brother's wound. Therefore 'go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone,' intent upon his amendment but sparing his sense of shame. For it might happen that through defensiveness he will begin to justify his sin, and so you will have inadvertently nudged him still closer toward the very behavior you desire to amend. Therefore 'tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother,' because he might have been lost, had you not spoken with him. " (excerpt from Sermon 82.7)
Friar Jude Winkler comments on the texts for today The Prophet Ezekiel speaks as a watchman for Israel with the responsibility to tell the wicked about their sins. He is his brother’s keeper. To correct the errors in a loving way is our responsibility. The Romans note that all the commandments are contained in love your neighbour. Friar Jude expresses an exaggeration that our correction may be with a hug or a well placed size eleven! When Paul qualifies our obedience to civil authority, it depends on loving action. If you have to reconcile, do it according to this process. This letter comes at a time when the institution of the Church to bin and lose on earth was being applied to the community. Friar Jude comments that when two or three get together as a community and raise up our prayers we may intercede with other members of the Body, including saints.
The Word Among Us offers a Meditation on Psalm 95:1-2, 6-9. What does a pliable heart, open to the Spirit, look like? Above all, it is humble before God and wants to please him by becoming his instrument in the world.
Let’s cooperate with the Holy Spirit today. Imagine that you are a piece of clay being shaped by God’s loving hands. Picture him molding you; let him show you any rough spots that need extra attention. Yield to him, and let him smooth them out. You—and everyone around you—will be amazed at what God can do in you.
“Lord Jesus, give me a soft, pliable heart. Mold me into who you created me to be.”
Father Richard Rohr reflects on the place of doubt in a mature life of faith. He worries about “true believers” who cannot carry any doubt or anxiety at all.
People who are so certain always seem, like Hamlet’s queen, to “protest too much” and try too hard. To hold the full mystery of life is always to endure its other half, which is the equal mystery of death and doubt. To know anything fully is always to hold that part of it which is still mysterious and unknowable. [1]
Evoke the Spirit to help us address the question of how to be followers of Christ “If someone has done you injury,”
Links to References
https://onlineministries.creighton.edu/daily-reflections/daily-reflection-september-6-2026 | Daily Reflection September 6, 2026 | Creighton Online Ministries
https://www.companionsofstanthony.org/reflections/ | Companions of St. Anthony
https://wau.org/meditations/2026/09/06/1663762/ | 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mass Readings and Catholic Daily Meditations for September 6, 2026 | The Word Among Us
https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-dance-of-faith-doubt/ | The Dance of Faith and Doubt — Center for Action and Contemplation
https://www.dailyscripture.net/daily-meditation/ | Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations – Daily Scripture Readings and Meditations
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/090626.cfm | Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time | USCCB
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/matthew/18?15 | Matthew, CHAPTER 18 | USCCB
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/romans/13?8 | Romans, CHAPTER 13 | USCCB
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/psalms/95?1 | Psalms, PSALM 95 | USCCB
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/33?7 | Ezekiel, CHAPTER 33 | USCCB
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