Monday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
One of the hardest jobs I have as a parent is to correct my children. This is difficult for so many reasons, but one, in particular, shone through in today's readings. Do I correct with the heart of St. Paul or the heart of the Pharisees?
Taking our reading from First Corinthians at face value today, it is a harder New Testament passage. We are seemingly witnessing an early church excommunication. And while there is much that could be said reading between the lines, for the purpose of this reflection we need only focus on Paul and his motivation. Why is St. Paul issuing such a severe statement at this moment? The reasons, to me, seem to be three-fold. He is motivated by love for the Gospel and the community's stance toward this individual who is causing scandal is concealing the Gospel instead of revealing it. He is concerned for the health of the community. The community has become puffed up and he is concerned that once that pride begins its infectious work, it will invade the whole community, so he recognizes the timely need for calling the community back to humility. Finally, he desires the salvation of the individual in question and seems hopeful that his correction will serve as a wake-up call that will get this person's attention, or at least preserve him from bearing the guilt of leading others into sin and scandal.
None of Paul's reasons are because this individual reflects poorly on him or because he is a personal threat to him or because he is personally bothering Paul. These are closer to the Pharisees who are seeking an excuse to severely 'correct' Jesus and they can sometimes be closer to my own temptations as a parent. Sometimes I find that like the Pharisees observed Jesus waiting for him to do something they could pounce on, I can be quicker to correct than to praise. I have found that I am sometimes more strict in a situation where I am concerned about others judging me. At other times my expectations for my kids are too high because I don't want them to threaten "my" time or my "one more second" before I give them my attention, etc (I need a "Don't text and parent" bumper sticker). Finally, there are times that my kids and I are both in a great, goofy mood and then there are times that we are not on the same wave-length and all of their ideas of jokes and fun are bothersome and annoying to me.
All of this is to say, that as people we need to guard our hearts against correcting like the Pharisees. They were self-interested, threatened, and bothered. However, St. Paul had removed himself from the equation. Whether as a parent, a teacher, a coach, or in a number of other roles. We need to check our hearts to see if we are exercising self-less, community, and person-oriented correction or if it is from a place of selfishness and self-interest.
- Spencer Hargadon