Speak The Truth – Speak The Truth In Love
Truthfulness – Speak the truth whenever, wherever and to whomever truth needs to be told.
Most Reverend Patrick C. Pinder, S.T.D.
Archbishop of Nassau
Our Liturgy of the Word for this Sunday begins with a passage from the Prophet Ezekiel. Prophets are among the most compelling characters in the Bible. Their mission is to speak, to speak the truth. They speak the truth whenever, wherever and to whomever truth needs to be told. This is a costly undertaking. That, no doubt, is why prophets are rare among us.
Biblical prophets arrive on the scene when the people of the covenant needed a word that would rouse them, that would remind them who they were and where their true destiny lay. This was a time of exile when the people had forgotten the God who had freed and formed them during that experience of liberation and formation known as the Exodus. They were now humbled by a new form of servitude known as the Exile. They may have forgotten God but God did not forget them. The prophets reminded them of that fact.
The career of each prophet begins with a call, a very dramatic event. The call of Ezekiel covers the first three chapters of the Book of Ezekiel. The context is a vision which the prophet has. Therein we find the Lord sending Ezekiel on a mission with these words. “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me. They and their ancestors have been in revolt against me to this very day. Their children are bold of face and stubborn of heart. To them I am sending you. You shall say to them thus says the Lord God. And whether they hear or resist … they shall know that a prophet has among them.” Ezekiel 2:3-5
The call of the Prophet Isaiah likewise takes place in the context of a vision. In this vision the Lord is enthroned and surrounded by angels. One of the angels cried out: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts, all the earth is filled with his glory.” Isaiah 6:3
As the vision unfolds, Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord say: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?” Isaiah imbued with a generous heart replies: “Here I am, send me.” Isaiah 6:8
Isaiah’s words call to mind the prayer of Saint Ignatius of Loyola known as the Suscipe.
“Take Lord and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding
and my entire will,
all I have and call my own.
You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.
Everything is yours;
do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.”
The words of Isaiah like those of Saint Ignatius of Loyola form a prayer. They are both prayers of self-offering. They are centuries apart in age but they are identical in nature. The prayer of self-offering is at the heart of our understanding of what vocation means.
We each should come to a moment in time when we ask: “Lord, what do you wish me to do with my life?” Our response should be a prayer in the same style and the same spirit of the prophet and the saint.
Mass Readings
Reading 1 – EZ 33:7-9
Thus says the LORD:
You, son of man, I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel;
when you hear me say anything, you shall warn them for me.
If I tell the wicked, “O wicked one, you shall surely die, ”
and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way,
the wicked shall die for his guilt,
but I will hold you responsible for his death.
But if you warn the wicked,
trying to turn him from his way,
and he refuses to turn from his way,
he shall die for his guilt,
but you shall save yourself.
Responsorial Psalm – PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9
Response: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us sing joyfully to the LORD;
let us acclaim the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
let us joyfully sing psalms to him.
Response: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Come, let us bow down in worship;
let us kneel before the LORD who made us.
For he is our God,
and we are the people he shepherds, the flock he guides.
Response: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Oh, that today you would hear his voice:
“Harden not your hearts as at Meribah,
as in the day of Massah in the desert,
Where your fathers tempted me;
they tested me though they had seen my works.”
Response: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
Reading 2 – Rom 13:8-10
Brothers and sisters:
Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another;
for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery;
you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet, ”
and whatever other commandment there may be,
are summed up in this saying, namely,
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
Love does no evil to the neighbor;
hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.
Gospel – Mathew 18:15-20
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that ‘every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church.
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,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you,
if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”
