In this weekend’s passage of the Holy Gospel, we hear about our responsibilities to one another as members of the “Christian Community.” When we are baptized, we are brought into a community of faith…and just like in a family; there are certain expectations in our dealings with the other people who also claim membership. No human being is perfect…we are each flawed. We don’t always treat one another the way we should AND it happens that other members of this community may offend us. What are we to do about this? We have several options: we can rant and rave, we can cut them off and not speak to them, we can try to hurt them in return etc. OR we can model Jesus and go the route of kindness, forgiveness, and honest sharing of your feelings. The way of Jesus is NOT the easy way, that’s for sure, but it’s what the Gospel encourages. Being a member of the Church means that we belong to a community of brothers and sisters in Christ. We are, therefore, the “keepers” of our brothers and sisters, for each one of us is important to all others in our faith community. Perhaps the most painful and challenging obligations of this love are “kindly correction” and generosity in forgiving and forgetting injuries. When we are offended by another, Jesus tells us to follow a four-step procedure: confrontation (This first stage is designed to let the two people concerned solve the issue between them. If it works out at that level, that is the ideal situation), negotiation (If the first step does not resolve the situation and the person refuses to admit wrong, then the second step is to take one or two other members of the church along with the wronged person to speak to the wrongdoer and to act as confirming witnesses. The taking of the witnesses is not meant to be a way of proving to the person that he/she is a bad person. Rather, it is meant to assist the process of reconciliation), widening the circle (if the negotiation step does not resolve the situation either, the third step is to have the whole church or community of believers confront the wrongdoer), and finally alienation (If the offender chooses to disregard the believing community's judgment, the consequence is alienation. The hope here is thattemporary alienation alone may bring the erring person to repentance and change. This is quite a process and demands great love, hope, and prayer. Brooding about being wronged and gossiping about it solves nothing. Jesus here encourages us to “go the extra mile” to resolve our differences. There was the grandmother celebrating her golden wedding anniversary who told the secret of her long and happy marriage. "On my wedding day, I decided to make a list of ten of my husband’s faults which, for the sake of the marriage, I would overlook." A guest asked the woman what some of the faults she had chosen to overlook were. The grandmother replied, "To tell you the truth, I never did get around to making that list. But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, "Lucky for him that’s one of the ten." GOSPEL QUESTION FOR THE WEEK: Is there someone in your life that you are at odds with…what can you do about it?