Reflection on Mt 18:18

Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth

will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth

will be loosed in heaven.

This promise applies on several levels. It applies to religious leaders, who are allowed to specify – in line with the teaching of the Church – some of the requirements of the Gospel and bind our conscience by a church regulation; for instance, they can lay down that eating meat on Friday is a sin. They can also loose it and say that the Friday fast may be replaced, for example, by prayer or an act of penance. This is an area that concerns those who are responsible before God for the Church in a particular territory.

Of course, church authority can be grossly abused against the essence, and this is already happening. In that case, however, the prelates concerned incur the most severe penalties, up to excommunication, in proportion to the gravity of their offence. This applies to those who nowadays promote sodomy and other similar immoralities through an abuse of episcopal or papal power.

This statement about binding and loosing also concerns each of us personally. We shall be judged for our sins, and that is why we need to know not only about our responsibility, but also about the spiritual power that every baptized person is entrusted with.

We can easily bind others by our sin, for example by our thought or image mixed with emotion, be it hateful, revengeful or impure. We also need to be careful with words, because they allow the greatest scope for the working of a spirit. A good word can save the spiritual or even physical life of your neighbour. On the other hand, a bad, hateful or deceitful word can become the cause of a great tragedy. Words arise from thoughts. Thoughts are inspired either by God’s word or by the spirit of lies connected to our pride. We therefore need to keep our thoughts and hearts pure. This is not possible without the light of God’s word and without our cooperation. The latter requires a certain self-denial, self-humiliation and self-sacrifice.

Jesus says that we should pray even for our enemies and forgive them. If we put it into practice, our heart is purified and God can work through us. If we persist in anger, self-pity or hatred, we are in spiritual blindness and God cannot work through us. It is the spirit of lies and death that works through us without us realizing it. That is why we not only need prayer, but we also need to practise Christ’s commandments, which we have reflected on for some time through the word of life. Above all, we need to learn to forgive. When we forgive, we loose the bonds by which we bound our neighbour, or by which he bound us too, and both of us are thus set free. What is more, a great promise is then fulfilled in us that God will also forgive us. And He will forgive us far more than we have forgiven our brother. Jesus says: “Forgive, and you will be forgiven!” (Lk 6:37) Wisdom is to put God’s word into practice. There is an even deeper dimension, but for now let us focus on just one thing – let us learn to forgive those in particular who have hurt us, and let us also pray for those who have something against us, even if we feel completely innocent. Jesus says: “If your brother has something against you, first go and be reconciled to your brother.” Sometimes it is not possible to practise it literally, but you can go and forgive him in spirit in prayer, with your eyes fixed on Christ’s cross. You can say to him in spirit: “Forgive me, brother, for hurting you unknowingly or even knowingly, or for offending you.” By doing so, you will loose the bond by which the spirit of lies had bound him and by which it had, to some extent, bound you as well. You can loose this bond through forgiveness.

What does it mean that it will also be bound or loosed in heaven? It means that it is written there and everything is waiting for God’s judgment. But when you forgive on earth, it is erased up there, and it is erased both on earth and in heaven. You have the power, you need to use it. Moreover, if you do it, it is most meritorious for you. If you indulge in self-pity or bitterness, you are not just harming others, but most of all you are harming yourself. Be wise and loose the bonds!

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