Monday of the
Thirtieth Week in Ordinary Time
(Ephesians 4:32-5:8; Luke 13:10-17)
Every seminarian should learn not to chastise people in
public. People may be willing to change improper
behavior if told politely and discreetly.
But they will surely defend themselves if publicly humiliated. Priests receive this lesson the hard way when
they tell parents to remove a crying infant from church. Today’s gospel gives another instance of this
very mild form of clerical abuse.
The synagogue leader scolds the sick for coming to see
Jesus on a Sabbath. He faults them for
causing Jesus to heal which he sees as a form of prohibited work. Interestingly, he directs his criticism at
the invalids and not at Jesus, the perpetrator of the perceived misdeed. Anyway, Jesus comes to their defense. His argument is that since the Sabbath
celebrates liberation, how can it be wrong to liberate the suffering on that
day?
The passage from Ephesians gives us the proper
perspective for correcting others’ mistakes.
It exhorts us to be kind and compassionate to one another. Fraternal correction is an act of charity if
done with respect for the dignity of the person at fault. We have to help him or her to feel cared for
and not demeaned.
