AVOID GETTING INTO DEBT, EXCEPT THE DEBT OF MUTUAL LOVE

XXIII SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Ezekiel 33:7-9

This Sunday’s first reading, taken from Ezekiel, speaks about the role of the prophet: he is appointed to be a sentinel to the community. Like a watchman, he must pay attention to everything that surrounds him, to every movement and to anything that looks strange and out of place. He is responsible for the safety and security of the community. And he must remain faithful to the one who appointed him. He is at the service of the Lord and at the service of the community.

Called to proclaim God’s word, the prophet must put himself totally at the service of God’s word. He must be faithful, neither adding nor subtracting. He cannot change God’s word according to the trends of the moment, in order to be accepted and gain popularity. And cannot change God’s word for his own word, which he presents as coming from God himself. The prophet must proclaim the word of God in order to lead people back to God and not to bring people to himself. As a prophet, he cannot become the centre of people’s attention and he cannot use his role to get a profit and become rich. The one who does that is a false prophet and he will be answerable to God for his unfaithfulness.

As a sentinel, the prophet must warn people, when they stray from the right path and when they abandon the commands of the Lord. He cannot keep silent when he sees wrong deeds being done. The prophet must show them the right way, warn about their deviance and call them to repentance and conversion. The prophet must denounce all behaviour that deviates from the ways of the Lord, not caring about what is politically correct, since his only concern is to discover God’s will and behave accordingly. The prophet only cares about “whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable”. (Fil 4:8)

The words of Ezekiel should make us reflect on the prophetic role of the Church. She is called to announce God’s word, calling people to repentance and conversion; and she is called as well to denounce the false ideologies that lead people astray. Although living in the world, the Church does not belong to the world and cannot conform to the world, but must be salt and light of the world. Whenever the Church is faithful to her prophetic mission, she will find rejection and even persecution. When that happens, she is called to carry the cross as her Lord carried the cross.

In the Gospel, Jesus asks us to feel responsible for our brothers and to care about them. We live in a society that values individualism and privacy, considering any interference in someone's life to be beyond what is reasonable and acceptable. The attitude of “mind your own business” is the most common, stopping anybody from being bold enough to approach someone to say a word of warning or of counselling. In spite of all this privacy, we can see how so many people expose their private lives in the limelight of the social media. However, in the community, the other is not a stranger but a brother or a sister and, when someone goes astray, the whole family suffers. We must have the courage to approach our brother who did wrong and counsel him. And love, care and concern must be the only motivation that leads us to do that.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that we should not have any debt in the community, “except the debt of mutual love. If you love your fellow men you have carried out your obligations.” (Ro 13:8)