Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time

Father Leo Hausmann
Homily from the Televised Mass, NewsCenter1
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, September 10, 2023

A common theme that runs through the first reading of the prophet Ezekiel and the Gospel is fraternal correction of our brothers and sisters in the Lord. The New Testament reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans reminds us that love is the foundation upon which is built all God’s commandments and God’s law. Of course, this foundation of love as the basis of God’s law and commandments would include correction of our brothers and sisters when appropriate and needed.

In today’s first reading, the Lord God defines the role of an Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel. 

Approximately 600 years before the birth of Christ the powerful Babylonians invaded the tiny country of Judah where the Jews lived, and their capital city, Jerusalem. The Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, took Ezekiel and many other Jews to Babylon in 597 B.C. 

Yahweh, the God of the Jews, addressed Ezekiel who is now living with many of his fellow countrymen in slavery in Babylon, saying, “You, Son of Man, I have appointed you watchman for the house of Israel; when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.” 

Like a watchman, the prophet exists only for the good of others, in this case, those deported with him to Babylon. He is to give them God’s words, to challenge them, and to correct them from time to time, so that if they should go wrong, the responsibility would be theirs. 

Here, Ezekiel gets straightforward orders from Yahweh, assigning responsibility to him, with no ifs, ands, or buts tolerated. God charges Ezekiel with the responsibility of remaining faithful to his prophetic mission, confronting the wicked with their own wickedness as the Lord God instructs him. 

If Ezekiel should refrain from speaking God’s word, intended to convert the wicked, God will hold Ezekiel responsible for the spiritual death of the wicked.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls the Church to the same responsibility for confronting the sinful. As Ezekiel is appointed watchman over the house of Israel in today’s first reading, so Jesus in the Gospel today establishes His disciples as guardians of the new Israel of God, the Church. 

Oftentimes people don’t take responsibility for what happens in society. But the truth is that we bear some responsibility for our society. As Christians, we are all God’s prophets, God’s representatives, God’s watchmen, set on elevated places to give warning of approaching danger to our brothers and sisters. 

The prophets of all times have a grave responsibility for their people’s salvation. None of us can retire from the task of being watchmen. 

This would include speaking out against laws and policies in government that violate human dignity according to how God created us, and violation of God given human rights, including the right to life from conception to natural death. 

But all of this has to be done in the context of love. As the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans stated, “Love does no evil to the neighbor…”

In a little church in a small village, an altar boy serving the priest at Sunday Mass accidentally dropped the cruet of wine. The village priest struck the altar boy sharply on the cheek and in a gruff voice shouted, “Leave the altar and don’t come back.” That boy became Tito, the Communist leader. In the cathedral of a large city in another place, another altar boy serving the bishop at Sunday Mass also accidentally dropped the cruet of wine. With a warm twinkle in his eyes, the bishop gently whispered, “Someday you will be a priest.”  That boy was Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen. 

Though the altar boys in those stories may have been careless or not, how we react and treat people is as important as whether we do or do not live up to our obligation of fraternal correction. Correction must always be done with loving concern for the one being corrected.

And finally, I would add that prayer and discernment guided by the Holy Spirit are most essential. The prophet Ezekiel was guided by the Holy Spirit to where God wanted him to speak out and what God wanted him to say. We need to do that same discernment. If we speak and act where we are not directed by God, we can do more harm than good. If and when we speak needs to be guided by the Holy Spirit, otherwise, we are not a true prophet or a watchman.