Coffee With God

Reflection: Matthew 18: 15-20

Being a Christian is not a private, purely personal affair, although that is the way some people seem to behave. When God asked Cain, “Where is your brother?”, Cain answered, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” The Gospel teaches us that indeed I am responsible for my brothers and sisters. Nobody is without sin. Before God we are all sinners and in need of forgiveness. All of us. Indeed, Jesus told us not to judge. Fraternal correction is a mark of the love and communion which must reign in the Christian community; it is, rather, a mutual service that we can and must render to one another. But, we live in a time when exposing scandals and failures through media to the public gains huge subscribers. Today the Word of God reminds us of the need of brotherly correction within the community of believers. Pope Francis explains that there are two ways of dealing with the wrongs of our brothers and sisters. The World talks about “let justice be served.” It would mean to expose the wrongs and make the offender pay for the damages caused. Explaining today’s gospel, Pope Francis says, the Christian charity reminds us to go beyond the values of the world; because our objective should always be to accompany our brother or sister who is stumbling, to lead him/her back to the life of the community instead of exposing them to the public and to defame them. The first thing to be avoided above all is any clamour in the news and gossips in the community. The approach is one of sensitivity, prudence, humility and fraternal concern to avoid wounding or killing the them with words. Words too can kill. This process of helping our brethren has another beautiful impact on lives too: It helps us to free ourselves from that bitterness of heart which causes anger or resentment and which leads us to insults and aggression. It’s terrible to see an insult comes from the mouth of a Christian. To insult is not Christian. Identifying the fault of another, should in fact, remind me that I have likewise made mistakes and I am often wrong. At the beginning of every Mass, we are called before the Lord to recognize that we are sinners and we say: “Have mercy on me, Lord. I am a sinner! I confess to Almighty God my sins”. We are all sinners and in need of the Lord’s forgiveness. Pope Francis says there are two fundamental attitudes in order to attend the Mass correctly: The first, we are all sinners and the second, God grants his mercy to all. We must always remember this before addressing the other in brotherly correction.