Fr. Bob's Reflection for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time - Guest Post

A successful restaurant owner with no religious affiliation once said to a priest, “Father, I hate to say this, but some of the most unethical people I meet are churchgoing Christians.” The priest replied, “Unfortunately, there are bad Christians, just as there are good ones.” The owner responded, “But Father, aren’t Christians supposed to be different?” The priest looked at her sadly and answered, “Yes. Yes, they are.” That conversation raises an important question: What should distinguish the lives of Christians from everyone else? Today's Scripture offers a clear answer. As followers of Jesus, we are called not only to do what is right ourselves, but also to help one another live according to the Gospel. Christian love is not passive. It cares enough to speak the truth with charity. Consider a mother who returns home from the grocery store and discovers that her young daughter has slipped a candy bar into her pocket without paying for it. What should she do? This scenario actually happened. A newspaper columnist told the story of a mother who immediately took her daughter back to the store, had her return the candy bar and apologize. Surprisingly, the store manager dismissed it as no big deal. But the mother knew better. She wanted her daughter to understand that stealing is wrong, no matter how small the item. Or imagine overhearing your son's friend say, “If you need the answers to tomorrow's math test, give me a signal.” Would you ignore the comment, or would you say something? Author Jerome Weidman experienced a similar situation as a third-grade student in a New York City public school. He and 11 classmates all turned in the same unusual and incorrect answer on a test. Rather than accuse anyone, their teacher, Mrs. O'Neill, asked the boys to remain after class. Then she quietly wrote these words on the chalkboard: "The measure of a man's real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out." Years later, Weidman reflected, “I don't know about the other 11 boys, but speaking for myself, it was the most important single lesson of my life.” Both the mother in the grocery store and Mrs. O'Neill understood something essential about Christian responsibility. They loved enough to correct the wrongdoing. They refused to remain silent when someone was heading down the wrong path. That is precisely what Jesus teaches in today's Gospel: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault when the two of you are alone.” His words are not an invitation to judge or condemn, but to care enough to help another person choose what is right. Someone once wrote, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to remain silent.” The Christians in these stories chose not to remain silent. Instead, they acted with courage, compassion and love. My friends, we must do the same. When we lovingly guide one another toward what is good and true, we become the kind of Christians the world expects us to be – and the kind of disciples Christ calls us to be. Yours in Christ, Fr. Robert Warren, S.A. Spiritual Director