“Practicing Forgiveness and Reconciliation in the spirit of Christian poverty.”  Beloved, Christ exemplified poverty in spirit (cf. Matt. 3:20; 2Cor 8:9) and commended it to us in the Beatitudes (cf. Matt 5:3).  It is about being humble and self-effacing, not clinging to one’s personal opinion, or political or cultural posturing, but yielding to God in all things (cf. John 4:34; Phil 2:5-11).  St. Clare embraced this spirit in imitation of St. Francis’ example of following Jesus.  Like St. Francis, she gave up wealth and fame, lived austere life, and founded the Order of Poor Clares. This spirit of sacrificial commitment is important for the practice of forgiveness and reconciliation Jesus commanded in our Gospel Passage (Mat 18:15-20). 

Surely, none of us is perfect and immune from offending others, intentionally or unintentionally.  Accordingly, we should always be disposed to excuse the fault of others (cf. Luke 23:34) and seek reconciliation (cf. Gal 6:1-2; Heb 5:1-3), especially on issues of sin (cf. Matt 18:21-22; Luke 17:3-4) where no scandal or abuse with legal ramifications are involved (cf. Luke 17:1-2).  Notice (and many are not aware of this), Christ places the burden of seeking reconciliation on the VICTIM, not on the VILLAIN.  Wow!  He insists on a threefold process the victim should undergo to facilitate reconciliation:

First, ONE-ON-ONE ALONE: many times, when people offend us, we feel we have a right to be angry and we wait expectantly for the offender to come and say, “I’m sorry; forgive me.”  Please, take another look at what Christ actually commanded: “If your brother sins against you…” [Oh, you are the offended party, the victim; and what should you do?  Wait for your brother or sister to come and apologize?  Not at all!  He says, “… go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.”  Supposing he or she is stubborn and refuses to repent, should you say, “My conscience is now clear; I have tried”?  Not yet!  Jesus says, you – the Victim – need to take another step: INVOLVE A SMALL-GROUP: “Take one or two others along with you [and try to get him or her to apologize and reconcile].”  Wow!  How humiliating to the victim, we might say!  Can you see Christ’s expectation is different from how the world demands things should be done, politically, culturally or ideologically?  Who should we obey: the world or Jesus?  And if this second step does not work, is that all?  Not at all!  Here comes the final step: INVOLVE A LARGE-GROUP: Christ says, “Tell the Church.” Thus, Christ makes the Church the final arbiter on disputes amongst His followers.  And at this level, “If he refuses to listen even to the Church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.  Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.”  Thus, in as much as it is not a matter of abuse, with civil and criminal consequences, the first thing is not to dial 911, call your attorney or involve outside panels; we can resolves matters amicably – in the spirit of humility and poverty – as members of the body of Christ.

The SECRET of Christ’s divine position lies in His Incarnation and Cross.  When we sinned against God, God – the Victim – came down from heaven to seek us out for apology, forgiveness and reconciliation in order to save us (cf. Matt 5:48).  We are to follow Christs’ Command because, as Moses learnt in a hard way in our First Reading (Duet 34:1-12), there are consequences for not following God’s command.  God had ordered him to SPEAK TO THE ROCK to yield water (cf, Num 20:8).  Instead, he used his rod to strike the rock (cf. Num 20:11).  Water gushed forth for the people because God will always feed His people.  But Moses paid a price, a temporal punishment of not entering the Promised Land.  But not to forgive our neighbor may not just incur temporary punishment but also eternal damnation (cf. Matt 6:12, 14-15; 18:34-35; James 2:13).  May God help us to imitate St. Clare as she imitated St. Francis and as St. Francis imitated Christ (cf. 1Cor 4:16-17; 11:1).  May we practice true Christian poverty and humility, relish the life of forgiveness and reconciliation and win God’s mercy and eternal life, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.