September 6, 2026 Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time Gospel: Mt 18:15-20
Today is the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time. The passage taken from the Gospel of Saint Matthew offers us the teaching of Jesus Christ concerning reconciliation. I would like to take this opportunity to offer some reflections.
In life, we often quarrel with others for various reasons, and we may even, because of some trifling matters, cease to associate with those who disagree with us. For we follow the logic of this world, and the logic of this world is this: to be self-centered, to put our own interests first, and always to seek, by whatever means, to triumph over the other. Hatred and unrest are the perpetual logic of this world. And the root cause that breeds hatred in the heart and gives rise to unrest is sin. Sin makes a person unfree and fills the heart with a sense of loss, so that one always desires to possess everything, for one seeks, by possessing everything, to overcome others and thus secure for oneself a sense of safety.
Today, Jesus says to us: “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 word may be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church. And if he refuses to listen even to the Church, 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.” (Cf. Mt 18:15-18)
This brings to mind certain challenges the Church has faced of late:
On July 1, 2026, the schismatic Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius X (SSPX), without the authorization of Pope Leo XIV, consecrated four bishops at Écône, Switzerland. On July 2, 2026, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith promulgated a decree formally declaring that this group, by committing an act of a schismatic nature, had placed itself in a state of schism, and that the persons concerned had incurred latae sententiae excommunication for violating the relevant provisions of the Code of Canon Law. This is the Church’s formal confirmation of an unlawful act in accordance with the law — excommunication is not a penalty “inflicted” by the Church of her own initiative; rather, it takes effect automatically by the very fact of the schismatic act itself (latae sententiae), and the Church’s decree merely declares and confirms this fact.
On July 25, 2026, the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer (FSSR), which adheres to sedevacantism, without the authorization of Pope Leo XIV, illicitly consecrated its Superior General, Michael Mary, as a bishop. They refused to heed the admonition of the Church and were even unwilling to submit to the Successor of the Apostle Peter. The Bishop of Aberdeen, Hugh Gilbert, accordingly imposed the appropriate ecclesiastical penalties upon that group and the persons concerned, declaring them excommunicated latae sententiae for the crime of schism.
On this Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, I invite all brothers and sisters in the Lord to pray together with one heart for these our brothers and sisters who are separated from us, that our prayer offered in communion may awaken the conscience of those separated from us, and that they may, in strict accordance with the process of reconciliation established by the Church, return to the great family of the Church, to the one sheepfold founded by Jesus Christ upon the rock of Peter, to the Church in communion with the Apostle Peter and his Successor — with those Apostles who are in communion with Peter and their successors — so that the scattered People of God may be gathered again into Christ.
O God, by whom we are redeemed and receive adoption, look graciously upon your beloved sons and daughters, that those who believe in Christ may receive true freedom and an everlasting inheritance. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
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