Fr Simi's Reflection (6 September 2026)

“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.” (Matthew 18:18)

Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers! We pray that God the Father will fill you with every grace so that
you may teach, bless, and lead your children with the same love that God the Father has for all of us.
God the Father has sent His Son into the world to bring back to Him all His scattered children. While we
have turned away from Him, God’s love for us has never ceased.

Through His Son, God the Father has constantly come after us and pleaded with us to turn back to Him.
Jesus has included Peter and the apostles and all believers in His ministry of preaching repentance to
everyone.

Yet we do not always want to repent, at least not right away. Like Peter, our repentance is often gradual.
Some, however, knowingly and freely choose to continue to reject God by clinging to an immoral and
self-destructive way of life. They are the focus of our Lord’s message today.

God’s message of repentance must be preached to them consistently. Their salvation is paramount to our
Lord and to us. We must at first try individually and if they do not repent, must try again with the help of
two or three others, and if they still do not repent, try again with the help of the church leaders, and if they
do not repent still, the church leaders are to excommunicate them.

Excommunication is a medicinal punishment that is meant to awaken the unrepentant sinner to repentance.
Excommunication is not the final judgement on any soul. We pray with eager hope for their repentance and
their return to God and to His church.

Our hope is in the Crucified Lord who won back the repentant thief crucified next to Him and the centurion
who pierced His Most Sacred Heart, and Peter, who repented after denying Him three times. May this hope fill
The hearts of all our fathers.