This week's readings Week of September 8 - 14 Sunday, Sept. 8, 2002 Reading I: Ez 33:7-9 Reading II: Rom 13:8-10 Gospel: Mt 18:15-20 Monday, Sept. 9, 2002 Reading I: 1 Cor 5:1-8 Gospel: Lk 6:6-11 Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2002 Reading I: 1 Cor 6:1-11 Gospel: Lk 6:12-19 Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2002 Reading I: 1 Cor 7:25-31 Gospel: Lk 6:20-26 Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002 Reading I: 1 Cor 8:1b-7, 11-13 Gospel: Lk 6:27-38 Friday, Sept. 13, 2002 Reading I: 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22b-27 Gospel: Lk 6:39-42 Saturday, Sept. 14, 2002 Reading I: Num 21:4b-9 Gospel: Jn 3:13-17 Pope's Prayer Intentions September General Intention That young people may have strong and wise teachers of the faith: That children and youth in Catholic schools may be provided with strong and wise educators to help them develop their faith and their healthy attitudes toward life. September Mission Intention Full reconciliation of the Korean people: That the Holy Spirit may use ecclesial Communities to help the two States of the Korean peninsula rediscover the deep reasons for the reconciliation they are embracing.

Where two or three gather:
I will be there

		Word of God  Word of Life  Fr. John G. Stillmank

In the early days of the post-Resurrection - Ascension -Pentecost Church, the disciples gathered together to celebrate the Eucharist as he commanded them.

They told and retold the stories about him, about his miracles, his parables, his death, and resurrection. They told others about Jesus, spreading the Gospel even from the earliest days. They baptized new believers, and celebrated the Holy Spirit among them, whom Jesus promised the Father would send.

They broke the bread as his body was broken on the Cross, and they poured out the cup as he poured out his blood for the forgiveness of sin. As he did at the Last Supper, as he did at Emmaus, so they continued to do - and so we do today.

Readings for 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time (Sept. 8) Ez 33:7-9 Psalm 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9 Rom 13:8-10 Mt 18:15-20

Often they did this in the midst of danger, and so they had to come together in secret. They devised the sign of the fish to identify themselves safely one to another. They were wanted, hunted men and women. Even Saint Paul, known then as Saul, sought them out to destroy them.

Jesus knew that they would be persecuted, and told them as much in the Sermon on the Mount and on other occasions. He prayed at the Last Supper that they would be one, as God the Father and Jesus are one. He sent the Holy Spirit to be their advocate, their defender. And he promised he would be with them always.

He didn't promise he would be with us as he was with the disciples in Israel, walking around the country, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, raising the dead. He gave us the Eucharist as his special presence among us, and he is also with us whenever we gather to pray.

The Second Vatican Council teaches us that the Lord is present in the liturgy in five ways: in the eucharistic species, in the person of the priest, in the Scriptures proclaimed and preached, in the assembly when it prays and sings, and in the sacraments (such as baptism) when they are celebrated.

In fact, Jesus said "if two or three of you gather to pray in my name, I will be there with you." That's a powerful promise! When we pray, Jesus is there with us - not as a ghost or merely as a memory, but present to us in a very real way.

If Jesus is present, really with us when we pray, how ought we to act, how ought we to pray?

Saint Paul has some answers, and they come straight from the teaching of the Lord Jesus: "owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another," Paul writes. "Love is the fulfillment of the law."

Sometimes that love takes the form of "tough love." The prophet Ezekiel and Jesus both tell us that we should speak out to others so that they may turn away from sin and toward the Lord God. "Warn the wicked," writes Ezekiel. "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault," Jesus says.

And Jesus goes further. "If he does not listen," take along some friends to help you, or bring it to the Church. Those are strong words, but Jesus has given to the Church the power to forgive sins. And with that power comes the persuasive preaching of the Gospel.

From its beginnings the Church has preached that Gospel of love and forgiveness, of mercy, reconciliation, healing, and peace - and also the Gospel of responsibility, duty, and - finally - judgment.

We have a responsibility, the Scriptures remind us, to call the erring sinner back to holiness. We have the duty to share what we have received - that is the demand of love. We are not to judge, but to share the faith, to open the Gospel for ourselves and others. Jesus will be our judge, and he is with us, helping us, whenever we gather to pray.

Fr. John G. Stillmank is Moderator of the Curia for the Diocese of Madison and pastor of St. Andrew Parish, Verona, and St. William Parish, Paoli.