Sunday 23^rd of Ordinary Time
Shared Reflection by Brother Andrew Thang-Ho, fsc.

One of the most difficult moments in any relationship may be when one person has to correct another. Fraternal correction is a delicate problem which this Sunday’s gospel talks about. In the first reading the prophet Ezekiel says that he has been "appointed as watchman for the house of Israel." He has the task of trying to "dissuade the wicked from his way." These are somewhat scary readings.

When Ezekiel says he was appointed as a watchman, He had a specific God-given office. The office of watchman involves hard work, willingness to suffer and the desire to build. Jesus lays down a common sense approach in today's Gospel. "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him." That is enough to make one ask, "Is this something I really want to confront?" Maybe this time it's better to just forgive and forget it. Notice that the New Testament speaks hundreds of times about forgiveness, but only a few times on fraternal correction. That is about the proportion we should follow. Most of the time we are called to simply forgive as God forgives us. But if prayer and reflection convinces us that something more than forgiveness is required, we should be prepared to go all the way. Jesus makes that clear and he outlines the steps. Get the testimony of two or three others. If that does not work go to the church. That means going to the proper authority, and so on.

Asian cultures can be challenged by today’s gospel: the fact that we are family or friends does not excuse turning a blind eye to each other’s wrongdoings. In my country, however, people usually condone or conceal the wrongdoings of their relatives, friends, comrades. For example, if a Vietnamese communist official is accused to be guilty of graft or corruption, he will usually have a judgment behind close doors, and then may be appointed to another post. Yet truth and love are not opposite – a brother’s or sister’s honest courage in telling me that my choices are destroying relationships may be the very act of love that opens my eyes to the seriousness of my course.

Fraternal correction is useful in the community, which should always be reformed and should try to correct its own imperfections. If it comes from the Holy Spirit, fraternal correction should be animated by the desire to advance in truth and love. It should be filled with respect and affection.

Fraternal correction, on the other hand, can be considered a two-way street. He who is not willing to accept correction from others, should never attempt to correct others. Jesus clearly warns us in today’s gospel that when offering correction, we must offer it with such honesty and openness as we would want it done to us, remembering that all of us at one time or another need correction. To err is human!

In one of his Meditations for the Time of Retreat, St La Salle wrote, "it would be of little value to make reproofs and corrections, if those who make them do not take the right steps to make them well. The first thing to which we must pay attention is not to undertake reproofs and corrections except under the guidance of the Spirit of God. This is why, before undertaking them, it is proper to become interiorly recollected, to give ourselves up to God's Spirit, and to be disposed to make the reproof or undertake the correction with the greatest possible wisdom and in a manner best suited to make them useful to the one to whom we intend to make it."

One good example of correction can be drawn from the following Japanese Zen story:
"The master Soyen Shaku passed from this world when he was sixty-one years of age. Fulfilling his life's work, he left a great teaching, far richer than that of most Zen masters. His pupils used to sleep in the daytime during midsummer, while he overlooked this. He himself never wasted a minute. When he was but twelve years old he was already studying Tendai philosophical speculation. One summer day the air had been so sultry that little Soyen stretched his legs and went to sleep while his teacher was away.

Three hours passed when, suddenly waking, he heard his master enter, but it was too late. There he lay, sprawled across the doorway. "I beg your pardon, I beg your pardon," his teacher whispered, stepping carefully over Soyen's body as if it were that of some distinguished guest. After this, Soyen never slept again in the afternoon."