Father Koch: All of our actions must be grounded in love
September 8, 2023 at 1:42 p.m.
Gospel reflection for Sept. 10, 2023, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Paul instructs the Romans that love is the fulfillment of the Law. Indeed, if we loved one another as Jesus taught us, there would be no need for other commandments. All sin is a failure of love. Sin is a multi-layered experience, covering a wide range of experiences. While some of our sins are committed against God directly, or are an offense against nature, most of our sins involve other people. Such sins are those of commission or omission. Here we are called to be forgiving and to seek forgiveness. Jesus offers clear instructions as to how we confront those offenses in charity leading to forgiveness.
To love as Jesus intended and instructed his disciples is not merely to love unconditionally.
Certainly we love -- but love always carries with it a consequence. Love makes demands on us.
At its very core Christian love -- agape in Paul’s writings -- is the demand that we walk with each other the path of discipleship. While at its core love calls us to extend ourselves, the foundational purpose of Christian love is to lead others to eternal life. We love others and we therefore want them to share in the heavenly banquet which Jesus promises for those who love him and keep his Commandments.
Jesus loved everyone who he encountered where they were, but he never left them as he found them. Love calls us to conversion; to set aside our sinfulness and seek to change our lives in conformity to his. As such, Jesus instructs us on the model for what we have come to call fraternal correction.
Such a call to correction was present within the Mosaic Law. The prophet Ezekiel was called to introduce a deeper sense of personal responsibility and accountability in the law. No longer could one simply blame the others, the past, their experiences, or their situation-in-life for their sins and shortcomings. Each one of us stands before God bearing the full responsibility for how we treated one another, and how we responded to God’s call for our lives.
As such, leading others to seek forgiveness for their sins is of paramount importance in the life of discipleship. But then we must be prepared to actually and authentically forgive. This, we know, is not easy. The conversation between Jesus and Peter about how many times one must forgive, is a testament to that reality.
Jesus foresees a loving community that will guide the sinner to conversion and that will then actually forgive the sinner the transgressions and grievances that have been brought before it.
In earlier times the church practiced this pattern of forgiveness in a more literal sense than we do today. No longer do we drag offenders into the bishop’s office in order to have our grievances heard. No longer do we stand outside of the church for long periods of time seeking the forgiveness of the members of the assembly as a retribution for our sins. Now, through the sacred seal of the Sacrament of Confession (Penance or Reconciliation; depending on one’s point of focus) our sins are forgiven by Christ through the priest on behalf of the assembly.
We are all called to seek forgiveness -- we are all called to lead others to forgiveness -- and we are all called to be forgiving of the sins and offense of others.
Not one step in that process is easy. In some ways this might be the hardest practice of discipleship that Jesus left to the church. It is easier to leave it all alone. We forgive when we have to. We seldom ever challenge someone to conversion in thought or lifestyle, and we wrap it all so neatly under the banner of unconditional love.
However, this is not the call of the Gospel, for Jesus demands much more from each one of us.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.
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Gospel reflection for Sept. 10, 2023, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
St. Paul instructs the Romans that love is the fulfillment of the Law. Indeed, if we loved one another as Jesus taught us, there would be no need for other commandments. All sin is a failure of love. Sin is a multi-layered experience, covering a wide range of experiences. While some of our sins are committed against God directly, or are an offense against nature, most of our sins involve other people. Such sins are those of commission or omission. Here we are called to be forgiving and to seek forgiveness. Jesus offers clear instructions as to how we confront those offenses in charity leading to forgiveness.
To love as Jesus intended and instructed his disciples is not merely to love unconditionally.
Certainly we love -- but love always carries with it a consequence. Love makes demands on us.
At its very core Christian love -- agape in Paul’s writings -- is the demand that we walk with each other the path of discipleship. While at its core love calls us to extend ourselves, the foundational purpose of Christian love is to lead others to eternal life. We love others and we therefore want them to share in the heavenly banquet which Jesus promises for those who love him and keep his Commandments.
Jesus loved everyone who he encountered where they were, but he never left them as he found them. Love calls us to conversion; to set aside our sinfulness and seek to change our lives in conformity to his. As such, Jesus instructs us on the model for what we have come to call fraternal correction.
Such a call to correction was present within the Mosaic Law. The prophet Ezekiel was called to introduce a deeper sense of personal responsibility and accountability in the law. No longer could one simply blame the others, the past, their experiences, or their situation-in-life for their sins and shortcomings. Each one of us stands before God bearing the full responsibility for how we treated one another, and how we responded to God’s call for our lives.
As such, leading others to seek forgiveness for their sins is of paramount importance in the life of discipleship. But then we must be prepared to actually and authentically forgive. This, we know, is not easy. The conversation between Jesus and Peter about how many times one must forgive, is a testament to that reality.
Jesus foresees a loving community that will guide the sinner to conversion and that will then actually forgive the sinner the transgressions and grievances that have been brought before it.
In earlier times the church practiced this pattern of forgiveness in a more literal sense than we do today. No longer do we drag offenders into the bishop’s office in order to have our grievances heard. No longer do we stand outside of the church for long periods of time seeking the forgiveness of the members of the assembly as a retribution for our sins. Now, through the sacred seal of the Sacrament of Confession (Penance or Reconciliation; depending on one’s point of focus) our sins are forgiven by Christ through the priest on behalf of the assembly.
We are all called to seek forgiveness -- we are all called to lead others to forgiveness -- and we are all called to be forgiving of the sins and offense of others.
Not one step in that process is easy. In some ways this might be the hardest practice of discipleship that Jesus left to the church. It is easier to leave it all alone. We forgive when we have to. We seldom ever challenge someone to conversion in thought or lifestyle, and we wrap it all so neatly under the banner of unconditional love.
However, this is not the call of the Gospel, for Jesus demands much more from each one of us.
Father Garry Koch is pastor of St. Benedict Parish, Holmdel.