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    23 SUNDAY, CYCLE A

    9/6/2020

     
    Matthew 18:15-20
    Jesus puts a real damper on the drama of being angry with somebody.
    When someone has hurt us, we want everyone to know about it. That’s
    what Facebook and Tweeter are for. We like to broadcast our pain so
    that others can take our side and maybe feel sorry for us.

    Jesus says, “No, that’s not the way. Go to the person who has harmed you
    and talk about the problem. Keep the issue between the two of you. It’s
    nobody else’s business.” That cuts rumor control way down—leaves
    very little to gossip about. Imagine how different our world would be if
    we would try to work things out with people who have offended us or
    whom we have offended. We could start in our family—husbands and
    wives might consider speaking with each other rather than consulting
    the in-laws, or worse, the children. All families will inevitably
    experience difficulties. Best to keep matters within the home. At times
    outside help is necessary—a third person. However, God gives each
    family the grace to rise above any difficulty. We can develop coping
    skills. However, since we have free will, we can also choose to fight.

    Certain personalities are more inclined to fight. “Give us this day our
    daily fight.” They thrive on disagreement. That’s what made the “I Love
    Lucy” show so popular—a hot headed Cuban man married to a scatter
    brain red headed lady. The show revolved around some sort of tension
    between the two of them, but in the end, love always won. The show was
    appropriately named because everybody loved Lucy, especially Ricky,
    her husband. That’s what makes a marriage work or fail—the
    willingness to work through the problems or allowing the problems to
    become greater than love. Not to pick on families, but every family is a
    reflection of the Church. If the Faith is not being lived in the home, then
    there is no hope for the Church.

    Our personalities, attitudes, prejudices develop within our family. By
    the time a child is 5 years old, the child is formed in the areas that set the
    pace for life. Parents have the enormous responsibility to be the first
    teachers of their child in the Faith, and in resolving conflicts. Conflicts
    are part of everyone’s life. We all have different opinions. Opinions are
    like belly buttons—everybody’s got one. Therefore, “wherever two or
    three are gathered to pray, it shall be granted to them.” But wherever
    two or three are gathered and disagree, there are problems. Christ gave

    us the power to bind and to lose—to hold grudges or to forgive.
    Whatever we do has lasting consequences.

    Obviously, our actions leave tracks. We affect one another for better and
    for the not so good. In other words, we have the power to bless or to
    curse. Some of us have a shorter fuse than others. We want to avoid
    situations where we lose control and say things that will offend. Words
    are like toothpaste; once they get out, we can’t get them back in.
    Emotions can overpower us and before we realize, we’ve said stuff we
    don’t mean. The question is: do we hold on to negativity and refuse to
    forgive or do we let go? Pride will always sneak in to tempt us that we
    are right and everyone else is wrong. Pride is the enemy of forgiveness.
    There are folks who have been fighting for years. Some even forget what
    the original cause was. When in doubt, remember the first step, speak to
    the person with whom we have difficulty. When we blow away the
    smoke, we usually realize that there is no fire, just a bunch of hot air,
    based on pride. We have a choice: to make peace or to allow pride to
    win. Given the present differences of opinion we would do well to
    remember that people are more important than ideologies, do not
    change reality. Rather than having an old fashion Western “showdown”

    where one says to the other, “There ain’t room in this town for the both
    of us.” We can allow for people who do not agree with us. The script can
    be changed: “Although we do not agree, we can still respect each other.”

    Jesus Christ must be the center of all that we do, all that we say, and how
    we think. His Command is that we love one another even if we do not
    agree.

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      Msgr. Gustavo Barrera,
      ​celebrated his first Holy Mass as pastor on September 15, 2007, the feast day of Our Lady of Sorrows. With his enthusiasm and spiritual guidance, OLS continues to serve our Catholic family in a way that challenges us to grow as an evangelizing community.

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