Homily 23rd Sunday of Ordinary Time - September 10, 2023

 Today's readings can be found here.

            I worked as a supervisor in a manufacturing environment many years ago.  One day, I needed something done, I don’t remember exactly what.  I asked one of my employees to take care of the task for me.  He said sure, no problem.  I checked with him later to see if it was complete and he said he’d taken care of it.  I don’t recall exactly what I said to him but I acknowledged that the task was complete.  The next day, he came to me and said, “Do you remember how you asked me to do something yesterday?”  I said I did.  He replied, “I took care of it for you quickly, right?”  I said he did.  Then he said, very matter of factly, “Did you ever say thank you?”

            That statement hit me like a ton of bricks.  I realized I had been rude and unappreciative to one of my staff.  I had sinned against my brother.  And he was brave enough to tell his supervisor so.  We had this conversation one on one and it was very amicable.  He didn’t raise his voice or get upset.  But he did let me know I’ d been wrong.  I apologized to him. I also thanked him for his work and for calling me out.  Lastly, I told him I would do better in the future.  He was satisfied and our working relationship improved.

            Jesus tells we should be told when we’ve sinned against someone.  We may not always know that we’ve hurt them.  We may say something without realizing the impact of our words.  Or, like me in that situation, we may be so focused on other things we forget to treat others well.  Sometimes we need to be told our sins so we can recognize them.  We should be open to God’s voice when we’re reminded of our sins.  We need to be attentive and listen carefully.  Elijah didn’t hear God in the wind, or an earthquake, or in fire.  Elijah heard God in a whisper.  Our psalm reminds us not to harden our hearts when we hear God.

We shouldn’t be afraid to let others know they’ve sinned against us.  Our first reading tells us that we hold some responsibility in helping others turn from their sins.  It can be difficult to tell others they’ve hurt us. In our second reading, Paul tells us to owe nothing except to love others as we love ourselves.  Love is the fulfillment of the law.  To love others is to have the courage to say they’ve hurt us.  This isn’t a license to name all the faults we think they have.  It means saying they took a specific action and the effect it had on us.  It also means we need to love others enough to be willing to listen when they tell us our sins.

            I had another situation at work where a co-worker was not speaking to me.  I had no idea why and they wouldn’t tell me.  My manager ended up having a conversation with the person and learned what the issue was.  The details are not important, but when my manager gave me the feedback, I immediately apologized to my co-worker.  I told him the breakdown in communication was indeed my fault.  I also empowered him to tell me if it happened again.  As our Gospel states, sometimes it takes a third party to intervene.  We may not be comfortable speaking to someone that hurt us.  Or they may not be ready to listen.  Having a third party can help with communication.

            Are we holding on to any anger or resentments from someone hurting us?  Do we have the courage to let them know so?  Are we open to listening if someone tells us we’ve hurt them?  Let us not harden our hearts.  Instead, let us be open to the voice of God in others.  We should be ready to repent, seek forgiveness, and reconcile with others.  Paul reminds us to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Wouldn’t we want to know if we’ve sinned against our neighbor?  Are we willing to be the gentle voice of God and let our neighbor know?