Sunday, September 06, 2020 - 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18, 15-20 - In Christ, God reconciled the world to himself: he put the word of reconciliation in our mouth.

Dear Christians! The message that the Church addresses to us in this 23rd week is clear: "Christians do not wallow in evil". May this principle motivate and guide our lives for all, for it is the basis on which we can adapt our lives to what Christ and God want us to do. After all, the Gospel before us focuses on this. It is love that motivates us to do such things: to correct, to counsel, to instruct one another, as St. Paul points out in the second reading. We don't always have to be governed by the law to change or be corrected. However, whoever calls himself a Christian has a responsibility to correct friends who have gone astray and to bring them back on the right path. We will be called to account, says the prophet Ezekiel in the first reading. So who should we expect corrections from, if not ourselves?

The Church is sent to lead us to the Father, to protect us so that there is no loss because it is not His will, to help us live as Christians, to overcome our imperfections, and to support us to be worthy children of God. But this Church is none other than us; we are united with Christ, the head, and with those whom He has sent and to whom He has given authority to lead. We must help and support one another. Christ teaches the church what to do in the face of our mistakes, and He puts His trust in it to bind or unbind us in a constant concern for what is good for God's people. He never leaves us alone and left to ourselves, but is always present where we gather in His name.

Thus, each one of us holds the key to the success of the Church in the mission that Christ has entrusted to it. Are we sociable, open to dialogue, attentive to correction? Let us have a simple, docile and receptive heart: more simply a heart of flesh.