by Fr. Oscar

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

To begin this Sunday’s homily, I want to invite all of you to reflect for one moment on the Church, not the material construction, but the Church that forms and joins all of us together through our baptism.

Before Jesus rose to heaven, He gave the apostles the command – "Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

In this way the apostles went throughout the lands proclaiming the good news of Salvation.

This message reaches everyone, including each and every one of us.

However, within the Body of the Church there are saints and also sinners. Yet, these saints, have been sinners, who have found out the necessity for conversion and have been open to God’s grace.

We cannot be so naïve in thinking that the Church is only for the perfect and the pure; this would be a great illusion and hypocrisy.

The reality is that the Church is formed so that men and women are able to recognize their sin, and above all, to see the necessity of God’s grace. As what was said by Jesus to those who wanted to throw stones at the adulterous woman: "Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her". And I’m adding that if there is anyone who doesn’t feel he needs God’s grace then he should leave from here because he is not in the right place.

We are all sinners who are making our way to heaven, and because of this we are helped unconditionally with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

In the Gospel that we heard today, our Lord Jesus Christ shows us the way, in which we can help each other find once again His grace. Therefore, many times our Lord permits us to be led astray, in order for us to recognize His compassion, like it is told in the parable of the prodigal Son.

The Lord says: "If your brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault. But do it privately, just between yourselves. If he listens to you, you have won your brother back."

This first attitude, is what the Church has called "Brotherly Love" which demonstrates the virtue of charity, which we must show towards each other. We are not superior to others, but rather we are Christians, walking together, helping each other towards perfection. Let us not forget, that the saints, are saints, not because they had no sins, but in spite of sin, they chose grace and the way of truth.

The Lord continues to say: "But if he will not listen to you, take one or two other persons with you, so that every accusation may be upheld by the testimony of two or more witnesses, as the scripture says."

This was customary in the Jewish community as well as the Roman Empire for this testimony of two witnesses to take place. By all means, Jesus strongly wants to show the importance of the sinner’s conversion. Like the prophet Ezekiel expressed: "God does not want the death of a sinner but that the sinner converts and lives" and the Lord ends by saying: "And if he will not listen to them, then tell the whole thing to the church. Finally, if he will not listen to the Church, treat him as though he were a pagan or a tax collector" In one word, "to love, then, is to obey the whole Law."

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

It is by looking at Christ, that we are able to go to the Father, it is by looking at our own weaknesses that we are able to recognize His grace and compassion, and it is by recognizing our own frailty that we able to help one another with God’s help.