Newsletter 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A) 6th September, 2026
GOSPEL REFLECTION
In the first reading God says to the prophet Ezekiel it is an obligation to correct a wicked person. God said: If “you do not speak to warn the wicked man to renounce his ways… I will hold you responsible.” Very strong words from God. (‘I’ will hold you responsible for the sin and ‘I’ will hold you responsible for his salvation, if that wickedness leads that person to lose his soul). “If, however, you do warn a wicked man to renounce his ways and he does not repent, then he shall die for his sin but you yourself will have saved your life.” In the Book of James, we read: “You shall know that whoever brings back a sinner from sinning, will save the sinners soul and will cover a multitude of sins.”
In the Gospel Our Lord explains how to correct someone. There are three steps. Firstly, correct your brother yourself and do it in private. Jesus said: “If your brother does something wrong go and have it out with him alone.” In other words, keep it private so that the wicked person’s reputation is upheld. Secondly, however, if the wicked person persists in his wickedness, Jesus said: Then “two or three witnesses are required to sustain any charge.” and Jesus says: “Where two or three are gathered in My Name I Am there.”
Thirdly, Jesus then says if he still does not repent the matter is brought to the attention of the church. If he still refuses to repent, Jesus said: “treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.” In other words, he is excommunicated from the church – deprived of the Sacraments.
God is telling us very clearly that we have a duty/obligation to speak the truth when there is wickedness/wrongdoing. In other words, we must not remain silent when there are attacks on innocent life.
A bill in favour of prostitution was passed in Parliament in 2008 because, perhaps, not enough people spoke out against it or not enough people prayed it would be rejected. Our letter or prayers may have convinced a parliamentarian. God lost that bill by only one vote. Therefore, today in WA, prostitution is legalised.
I will now relate to you the powerful witness of Fr Titus Brandsma: He spoke out against the atrocities committed by the German Government against Jesus:
Father Titus Brandsma (1881-1942), a Dutch Carmelite priest who was deported and killed by the Nazis in the infamous Dachau concentration camp. At 59 years old, Father Brandsma was a professor of philosophy and mysticism at the Catholic University in the Netherlands.
As early as 1936 he collaborated on a book entitled Dutch Voices on the Treatment of Jews in Germany. He wrote: “What is happening now against the Jews is an act of cowardice.”
German officials responded by classifying him an “evil professor.” Yet he was aware of his responsibility as a teacher, and he did not back down. In the academic year of 1938-39, he was already teaching on the “disastrous trends” of National Socialism (Nazism). All the while, he was aware that there were (Nazi) party spies present in his audience.
Professor Brandsma was arrested and deported to the notorious Dachau concentration camp where he was subjected to every manner of humiliation and torture. The following account comes from the woman herself who killed him and who later converted because she could not rid herself of the memory of Father Titus.
She was a nurse by profession, but she obeyed the inhumane orders of the medical officers. She said that the priest endured the abuse, repeating over and over, “Father, not my will, but may yours be done.” She related how all the patients hated her and routinely insulted her with the most disparaging names. However, she was struck by the way the elderly priest treated her, instead, with the gentleness and respect of a father. She said, “He once took my hand and said to me, ‘What a poor girl you are, I will pray for you.’”
The prisoner gave her his own rosary beads. However, this only irritated her, and she said she had no need of such an object because she did not know how to pray. Father Titus, however, responded: “You need not say the entire Hail Mary. Say only, ‘Pray for us sinners.’”
On that fateful day of July 25, 1942, the ward doctor handed her the syringe filled with carbolic acid to inject into Father Titus’ veins. It was a routine procedure which the nurse had already done hundreds of times to others. Yet the poor woman later recalled “feeling sick for the rest of the day.” “I was there when he died,” the nurse later testified.
Father Titus always spoke well about his captors and torturers: “They, too, are children of the good God, and perhaps something good still remains within them.”
The key to today’s message is found in the Second Reading. St Paul’s letter to the Romans. St Paul writes the greatest commandment is love.
When we correct someone, we do so because we love them with the love of Christ. We must love them with all our heart, mind and strength.
How did Jesus correct the sinner? He did so by offering His life on the Cross.
Also, as His crucifixion didn’t cause us to change our ways enough. He became mere bread so that we would receive all of Himself. Also, on top of that, Our Lord stays in the Tabernacle, 24 hours a day, every day, waiting for us to ask for His mercy which he will always give.
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