This year the gospel readings are taken from Matthew’s gospel. It was first addressed to Jewish people who had become converts to Christianity. But they were still shaped by many of the traditions found in Jewish law. Earlier in Matthew we hear Jesus say;
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Mtt. 5:17
As Christian communities grew, forming the early churches, how members were expected to conduct their lives began to take shape, and especially how the church was to deal with one who sinned in a way that harmed or scandalized the Church members and yet remained within the community. The basic formula for establishing these laws of discipline we find laid out by Jesus in today’s gospel text.
First there is to be private correction (Mt 18:15); if this is unsuccessful, further correction before two or three witnesses (Mt 18:16); if this fails, the matter is to be brought before the assembled community (the church), and if the sinner refuses to attend to the correction of the church, he is to be expelled [18:15–20]
Of special note is the third one – tell the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector – in Jewish practice that was to have no dealings whatever with that person. This gave shape to the church’s practice of excommunication.
Throughout the Church’s history, the practice of excommunication continued to develop. Basically, to be excommunicated is to be excluded from participation in the sacramental life of the church. The purpose for imposing such disciplines is to encourage the sinner to repent and return right living. Over the years, laws of excommunication took many forms and covered many different sinful practices. But in resent times, it was felt that Code Canon Law had become too encumbered with an excessive number of laws and needed to be updated and simplified.
In the 1983 a revised Code of Canon Law was issued. In it there were simply nine sins carrying the penalty of automatic excommunication: abortion, apostasy, heresy, schism, violating the sacred species, physically attacking the pope, sacramentally absolving an accomplice in a sexual sin, consecrating a bishop without authorization, and directly violating the seal of confession.
In the case of abortion, priests needed to be specially authorized to absolve, but Pope Francis, for the Jubilee Year of Mercy, extended to all priest this jurisdiction, and now has made it permanent.
We live in a pluralistic, liberal society that has a broad tolerance for all manner of human behavior. But the church continues to hold many, many things as sinful which society considers amoral and a matter of personal choice. Some things the Church considered so serious and intolerable as to require excommunication.
We are called to a higher standard then our society promulgates. We must form our conscience and structure our lives on the wisdom and truth taught to us through the gospel and the magisterium of the Church. Therefore, it is essential that we structure a plan of personal Christian formation whereby we maintain that vital connection with God’s Word of life – that we continue to be attentive to the VOICE of God.
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