The following words are taken from the Gospel of St. Matthew, from chapter 18:

But if your brother shall offend against you, go, and rebuke him between you and him alone. If he shall hear you, you shall gain your brother. And if he will not hear you, take with you one or two more: that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the Church. And if he will not hear the Church, let him be to you as the heathen and publican.

It is our Christian duty, not only to discern and lead lives of Faith, but to lead others to that same thing. I think it is absolutely important to realize that evangelization is supposed to be an active ministry, not a passive and unspoken one. This means, in a sense, we are evangelists of liturgical decency – we see problems and people in error, and, as per Our Lord’s instruction, we set out to correct them, with charity of course.

Let’s look at the stages He set forth for us:

• 1. Seek out the individual, and try to win his or her heart.
• 2. If he or she doesn’t listen to reason, bring others along with you.
• 3. If he or she still remains adamant in error, bring it to the Church. Make it public.
• 4. If they still don’t amend their ways, distance yourself from them. I would add, of course, to pray for them.

We have done these things. We first wrote to our pastors, our administrators, our bishop. This was a personal interaction, one on one. However, we know that these efforts seldom bear fruit. So then we band together and address the problems. This would be the whole “blogging” phenomenon which we’re a part of. We’re simply a group of people striving to correct errors with fraternity and charity (tempered with a little much-needed humor). The next thing is to address the Church, the papacy, the curia, etc. We have covered every single base, friends. We are doing precisely what is required of us, and this is what matters.

Keep up your spirits. Don’t lose hope. We are all in this liturgical evangelization together, and together, we can’t fail.

Tags: Liturgy, Orthodoxy at Work

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