Daily Gospel Reflection
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August 13, 2025
Jesus said to his disciples:
“If your brother sins against you,
go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.
If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.
If he does not listen,
take one or two others along with you,
so that every fact may be established
on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
If he refuses to listen to them, tell the Church.
If he refuses to listen even to the Church,
then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.
Amen, I say to you,
whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Again, amen, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth
about anything for which they are to pray,
it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there am I in the midst of them.”
I confess that I have a problem with solitary mental prayer. My busy mind wanders. This happens in meditation, too, but in meditation, I can, at the very least, remember to breathe. Audibly speaking prayers works better for me, because the use of the voice helps constrain my mind. But it’s best if I am praying with or for someone, or someone is praying with or for me. Is this by heavenly design?
Jesus says he is present when “two or three” are gathered in his name. I live in a building with many Orthodox Jews. I have been impressed that the Jewish synagogue requires a minyan (ten) in order to have a public service, and I see them leaving for the synagogue in the morning to make sure there is a minyan.
Jesus requires fewer. In morning Masses, two are required: the priest and a server. It’s nice if a third or more are in the congregation to respond to the priest, but it’s not absolutely necessary.
Although Jesus encouraged us not to draw attention to ourselves when we pray, he does not value private worship, evangelism, or discipline over community. He sent out seventy disciples two by two. In dealing with a disagreement between brothers or sisters, he recommends taking one or two others with you. Then there are three or four. When Jesus prayed in solitude to his heavenly Father in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of his betrayal, he took three disciples to keep watch (although they kept falling asleep).
I don’t see having a companion along with you in prayer, mission, or reconciliation as just a nice-to-have sort of thing. I see it as saying that Christianity, by definition, is not a solo enterprise. What we do in the name of Christ is always done with others. It is then that we have Jesus’ promise that he is present among us.
Prayer
God of unity and peace, our human nature drives us to dark places of competition and comparison among ourselves. Give us the humility to see one another as you see us, as people struggling towards to the same goal—eternal life with you. Help us to work together in harmony as we strive to grow in holiness. Let us listen to each other with patience, speak to each other with gentleness, and love one another with mercy. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Saint of the Day
Hippolytus was one of the most important writers and thinkers in the Church before the fourth century. He was a learned priest in Rome and renowned for his eloquence. He became overzealous, however, and spoke out against several popes for being too lax with people who strayed from the faith, or for not denouncing a certain heresy forcefully enough. He thought the faithful should be an undefiled body of people and was elected as a rival pope.
Pope Pontian (pictured here) was elected in 230 and was able to reconcile with Hippolytus and restore union to the Church. Shortly afterwards, the Roman emperor began persecuting Christians, and both Pontian and Hippolytus were exiled to Sardinia, which was known for its harsh conditions. Before his arrest, Pontian stepped down from his role as pope so that the Christian community could select another leader in his absence.
Both men labored in mines and died there due to exhaustion. The bodies of both men were retrieved and returned to Rome for burial and veneration as martyrs for the faith. Relics of both saints rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica.
Saints Pontian and Hippolytus, you were bitter rivals who reconciled before your exile and death—pray for us!
Image Credit: Our featured image of Pope St. Pontian is in the public domain. Last accessed March 27, 2025 on Wikimedia Commons.
