“You shall warn your brother”

The Word of God this Sunday places before us a responsibility that we would often rather avoid: we are not indifferent to one another. We live in a time when it is easy to think, “It’s none of my business,” “Everyone is free to do whatever they want,” or “I must not judge anyone.” 

Certainly, we are not called to condemn others, but the Gospel reminds us that true love is never indifferent. In the First Reading, the prophet Ezekiel is appointed by God as a watchman: “I have appointed you as a watchman for the house of Israel.” The watchman has a precise task: to see danger and raise the alarm. If he sees danger approaching and remains silent, he becomes responsible for the harm that could have been prevented. This is a very powerful image for us as well. How often do we see someone drifting away, making a choice that may hurt them, or living in a situation that is harmful, and yet we choose to remain silent in order to avoid problems? Sometimes we call “respect” what is, in reality, indifference. But we must also understand clearly what it means to admonish someone. The watchman does not shout at the people, humiliate them, or take pleasure in seeing them in danger. He warns them because he loves them. And this leads us directly to the Gospel. Jesus says: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” It is interesting that Jesus does not say, “Talk about it with others.” He says, “Go to him.” How different our way of living would be if we truly put these words into practice! When someone hurts us, we often do the opposite: we talk about it with everyone, tell others what happened, and look for someone who will agree with us. Yet the person concerned is often the last to know. Jesus, instead, asks us to take another path: to speak directly, discreetly, and respectfully, from brother to brother. Fraternal correction does not arise from the desire to prove that we are right, but from the desire to save a relationship. Here we find the key in the Second Reading. Saint Paul tells us: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another.” This is our true “obligation”: we are indebted to one another in love. Paul continues: “Love does no wrong to a neighbour; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.” Therefore, even when we correct someone, we should ask ourselves: “Am I speaking because I truly love this person, or because I want to prove that I am right?” For it is possible to say something that is true, but to say it in the wrong way. We can correct someone and, at the same time, hurt them. We can speak the truth without love and turn that truth into a stone to be thrown at another person. Jesus, instead, asks us for a correction that bears the face of mercy. And there is a particularly important detail: Jesus says “your brother.” He does not say “the guilty one,” “the person who has made a mistake,” or “the one who behaves badly.” He says, “your brother.” Even when that person makes a mistake, he or she remains my brother or sister. This changes everything. I am not called to fight against a person; I am called to fight, together with that person, against whatever is hurting them and drawing them away from God. Perhaps this is a question we can carry with us today: When someone makes a mistake, do I still see a brother or sister, or do I see only the mistake? But the Gospel does not stop at personal correction. Jesus also speaks about the community: if the brother does not listen, others are involved, and ultimately the whole community. This reminds us that the Christian faith is not an individual matter. Our lives are connected to the lives of others. A Christian community is not simply a group of people who attend Mass at the same time; it is a family in which each person takes care of the others. And this brings us to the concluding words of the Gospel: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” We know this phrase well, but today it takes on a particular meaning. Jesus does not promise his presence only when everything is going well, when we agree with one another, or when we are getting along.

He is also present when we have to face a difficulty, a wound, or a conflict. Indeed, perhaps it is precisely in those moments that we need his presence most. When two people are able to stand before one another, not to accuse each other but to seek the truth together; when someone finds the courage to ask for forgiveness; when the person who has made a mistake finds a community that does not crush them but helps them to rise again Christ is in their midst. This Sunday therefore invites us to overcome two opposite temptations. The first is indifference: “It does not concern me; let them do whatever they want.” The second is judgement: “I know what kind of person they are. I know who they are. I have the right to condemn them.” Between these two paths, Jesus shows us a third way: fraternity. A fraternity that knows how to speak, but also how to listen. A fraternity that knows how to correct, but also how to ask for forgiveness. A fraternity that knows how to speak the truth without humiliating others. It does not conceal evil, but neither does it abandon the person who has made a mistake. Perhaps today we can ask the Lord for three graces. The first is the courage to speak when necessary, without hiding behind silence. The second is the humility to allow ourselves to be corrected, because we are not always the ones who are right.

The third, and perhaps the most important, is a heart capable of loving, because, as Saint Paul reminds us, “love is the fulfilling of the law.” To be watchmen for one another, then, does not mean becoming controllers of other people’s lives. It means having eyes capable of noticing our brother or sister, a heart capable of suffering with them, and words capable of accompanying them towards what is good. And when we no longer know what to say, when our words are not enough, there remains the promise of Jesus: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” May the Lord grant us to be a community in which no one feels judged, but neither forgotten; a community in which we can correct one another without causing hurt, forgive one another without humiliation, and support one another through the difficulties of our journey. For in the end, as Saint Paul reminds us, the only true debt we have to one another is the debt of Love.

HAVE A BLESSED SUNDAY, EVERYONE!