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Through the Lens of Love – Fr. Viet Nguyen

Fr. Viet Nguyen’s Homily September 6, 2020

“In our first reading today in Ezekiel it talks about how we should go and tell. We should go and tell our brother if they are doing something wrong, but you know in our culture today, the one thing people hold true or question is who am I to say anything to anyone? Who am I to say, to judge? We all hold that true in the culture but at the same time on the other way it’s kind of a paradox because we’re hyper-critical whether it’s in the social media or even in our thoughts we’re still hyper-critical. How do we move between those? In the second reading they tell us it’s through love, it’s through the love of another. That’s the fulfillment of the law and that’s what Christ comes to establish that the laws are good. They give us the boundaries, but in the ambiguity of life we need love to guide us and I think the best example of that relationship is a marriage. A marriage is one of the most foundational relationships we have. Think about it, when you were children, who were the first people that you learned how to interact with? It was your parents. Where do they learn how to interact with a male or female? It’s in their home, so the marriage relationship is the first establishment of how we are to live, how we are to love and to love is to will the good of the other person as other and to do something about it not to will the good of the other for our own sake, but for their sake and that’s why the relationship of marriage is so powerful, that it’s forever that if someone is doing something wrong then we address it to that person first not to go out and gossip about it. We don’t have time to go through the full Gospel, but I want you to go over the Gospel reading today again on your own time and it really breaks down the steps to address someone who is doing something wrong how you are to address them the proper steps, but in the very end it says, ‘Even if they don’t listen the treat them like a Gentile or tax collector.’ That doesn’t mean to dismiss them because how did Jesus treat the Gentiles and tax collectors? He ate with them. He was patient with them. He continued to try to love them and that’s what we do. We persistently continue to love the others, so how do we correct someone? Well we look at our relationship and we look through the lens of love. So as you come before the Lord today where Christ is truly present before you in the Eucharist, let us continue to ask the Lord for the strength and the courage to see the other person as they are, to love them, but to see them as Christ sees them. Amen.”