If you looked at the calendar this morning, you might have felt that familiar shock: September is here. The year is flying by, school routines are in full swing, schedules are packed, and the world around us is moving at breakneck speed.

Amid that rush, the Church places three powerful readings before us today that force us to stop, look at the person sitting next to us, and ask a fundamental question: How are we caring for one another’s souls?

In our first reading, the Lord says to the prophet Ezekiel: “I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel.”

Think about what a watchman does. In the ancient world, the sentry stood up on the highest wall through the darkest hours of the night. His job wasn’t to judge the city inside the gates. His job wasn’t to be self-righteous or feel superior to the people sleeping below. His sole mission was vigilance and protection. If danger was coming and the watchman stayed silent to avoid rocking the boat, the blood of the people was on his hands. But if he sounded the trumpet, he gave everyone the chance to turn back, find safety, and live.

Every single one of us baptized into Christ shares in this prophetic office. In our families, our marriages, our workplaces, and our parish community, we are called to be watchmen.

Yet, let’s be honest with ourselves: in our culture today, being a watchman is difficult. We live in a world that tells us, “Mind your own business,” or “Live and let live.” We mistake silence for politeness, and we mistake apathy for tolerance. When we see someone, we love drifting into destructive habits, pulling away from God, or harboring bitterness, the easiest thing to do is keep quiet. But scripture makes it clear: silence in the face of spiritual harm is not charity, it is indifference.

Our Dominican roots remind us of a sacred motto: Veritas—Truth. But truth without love is a weapon; and love without truth is sentimental nonsense. They belong together.

St. Paul lays this out with brilliant clarity in Romans: “Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another… Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Notice how Jesus teaches us to practice this in the Gospel of Matthew. When a brother or sister hurts you or falls into sin, what is our human instinct? Usually, our instinct is to go tell three other people first—to vent, to gossip, to gather a team on our side.

Jesus completely overturns that instinct: “Go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.”

Protect their dignity. Keep the circle of grace as small as possible. And why? Jesus gives us the reason: “If he listens to you, you have won over your brother.”

Now, let’s look closely at what it means to win over a brother. In our world, “winning” means beating an opponent, dominating a debate, or forcing someone to admit they were wrong. But in the language of the Gospel, “winning” isn’t a conquest—it’s an accounting term for recovering something of supreme value that was about to be lost.

The courtroom of the world wants a verdict, a penalty, and a defeat; the Gospel of Jesus Christ wants a homecoming. When you go to your brother in private, you aren’t trying to win an argument, you are launching a rescue operation for his soul. You are valuing his dignity, his salvation, and your relationship with him far more than your own ego. You haven’t “won” if you leave behind an alienated, humiliated person who just gave up out of exhaustion. You have only won when communion is restored.

Jesus closes today’s Gospel with a promise that should set our hearts on fire: “Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

That isn’t just a comforting thought for small prayer groups. In Matthew 18, Jesus says this right after teaching about reconciliation. He is telling us: When you do the hard, holy work of forgiving one another, reconciling with one another, and speaking truth in love, I am standing right there in the middle of it.

So, as we leave this sacred altar today and step out into the world, I leave you with this question:

Looking at today’s Gospel, what is the one act of truth, forgiveness, or courageous love that you need to extend this week—not just to secure your own place in the Kingdom of Heaven, but to take your brother, your sister, and your neighbor by the hand and help lead them to the Kingdom of Heaven with you?