One day, a mouse looked through a crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife opening a package. He was shocked to see that it was a mouse trap. Rushing to the barn the rat proclaimed the warning; “There is a mouse trap in the house, there is a mouse trap in the house!”

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Excuse me, Mr. Mouse, I can see that this bothers you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mouse trap in the house!”

“I am so very sorry Mr. Mouse,” sympathized the pig, “but there is nothing I can do about it. “

The mouse turned to the cow. And she said, “A mouse trap? Really? How do you think a mouse trap can catch me? I am too big”

So the mouse returned to the house, to face the farmer’s trap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house, like the sound of a trap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught.

In the darkness, she did not see that it was a poisonous snake whose tail was caught in the trap. The snake bit the farmer’s wife.

She became sick with a fever. Now everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

His wife’s sickness continued so that friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer’s wife did not get well. She died, and so many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of them to eat.

(PAUSE)

The mouse was being a bit of the barnyard prophet here. He saw a danger, admittedly one that he might be more immediately concerned about than say … the cow, but he warned of the danger he saw because it might affect them as well.

Our understanding of a prophet is as the mouthpiece of God. It’s a tough job that often finds itself in tough situations. In our first reading today, the prophet Ezekiel has laid before him the ground rules of being a prophet.

The prophet is not only sometimes controversial, but also, when occasion calls for it, confrontational.

At our Baptism, we were anointed with the Holy Chrism oil, and we were made priest, prophet and king, just as Christ is priest, prophet and king. We became, and will remain through all eternity… “Christed”.

And so, when Christ speaks to His disciples in today’s Gospel, He instructs them and us on the “rules of engagement” for the prophet. When we see another in sin, it is imperative for us to step in. It is our Christian duty.

Of course, if we are prudent and humble and sensitive as we go about this prophetic task, our chances of success will be greater. St. Paul, in today’s second reading, says that:

Love does no evil to the neighbor.

Love of Neighbor must be the key motive to helping another see the dangers of their behavior or actions. Anyone who has ever been a part of an intervention, which is an act of deep love and concern for another, knows that without love, this intense and difficult encounter would be a waste of everyone’s time.

Without love, then we are just busy bodies getting up in everyone else’s business.

In today’s Gospel, our Lord Jesus gives us very practical direction about how one must confront another about their sin, about their destructive behaviors.

First, go privately to the person and treat him or her like a brother or sister, not like our inferior. This respects the person at the deepest level. Their reputation is not damaged, their human dignity remains intact. This is a very generous and even a kingly thing to do.

If we get nowhere, we get another to help us. This is a great reality check, because, if we cannot find others who see what we see going on, perhaps it is our perspective, our judgment that is out of line. This may be the time for a reexamination of the situation and our motives. Perhaps we are not being the prophet here. And if not, we need to let the situation go.

If we do find others, then we are to move forward out of that same love and respect in which we encountered the person privately.

If we still run into a wall, refer it to the Church, which in most cases would mean someone in authority such as a pastor or bishop.

And if they still do not listen, then we are to treat them like a tax collector or Gentile.

So what does that mean? What does treating them like tax collectors look like? One only has to look at how Jesus Himself treated them, and then we do the same.

Notice that Jesus speaks of intercessory prayer… as a part of this conversation with His disciples:

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.

And speaking of the Church, He says:

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I

in the midst of them."

Intercessory prayer for our neighbor is a very priestly thing to do.

If we are to live as the prayerful priests, prudent prophets and kindly kings that we are as Christians, then from time to time, we will have to step into an uncomfortable and confrontational arena with a person, or even a group of persons. I will not pretend that this is easy, but we cannot be afraid to do this, and we will not be afraid if we are genuinely acting out of love for our neighbor.