Correction
Correction Homily delivered by Fr. Emmanuel “Nono” Alfonso, SJ on Saturday in the 18th Week in Ordinary Time8 August 2026 I used to work with Fr Jack Carroll, the eminent sociologist of the Ateneo de Manila University, at a Jesuit NGO, the Institute on Church and Social issues, which championed the rights of the poor. I was hired as Editor in chief of their publications. My problem though was that my writers, mostly Jesuits, could not meet our deadlines and so a few times the newsletter came out late. One day, we were meeting for another issue of the newsletter. After the brainstorming, he asked me when the issue would be out. Father, I started, God willing. But he held his hand and before I could continue said, in front of the whole group, leave God out of this. And that dear friends was my first taste of Jesuit correction. And I remember this episode in the past because of the Gospel today. Jesus came from his thrilling climb of the Mountain of transfiguration. He must have been tired so when news of the inability of his apostles to heal the son of a desperate father, Jesus exploded. “O faithless and perverse generation, how long will I be with you? How long will I endure you. And later, in a more private setting, he once again berated or rebuked his apostles, you of little faith, if you had faith the size of a mustard seed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Wow! Sounds like someone was in an awfully bad mood. But of course, this was gentler compared to the other times Jesus corrected or scolded them. The worst would have been the time when he chastised Peter in the most hurtful way, telling him, “get behind me, Satan.” Wow. But as we know, Jesus was only human. He could be impatient too over people’s stubbornness or intransigence like all of us. But what is more important though is that he strove to correct his apostles, like a father who confronts his spoiled child. Yes, dear friends, like my Jesuit mentor, God corrects us, God gives us feedback, God straightens us up and we should appreciate that. The famous but sometimes controversial psychiatrist cum philosopher Dr. Jordan Peterson writes that the most critical period in the formation of a child is the first two or three years. The psychotic ones, about two percent of the population, are those who when they were two years old were not dealt with by their parents. When a child shows abusive behavior, they must be corrected right away. In general, he says, the problem with our world is bad or irresponsible parenting, parents who fail to be the adult in the room for their children in their formative years. So, we thank God that in many various ways, he corrects us, or in Jesus’ favorite expression, he prunes us. For our part, we must humbly accept the fact that we are not perfect and need God’s correction always. Once upon a time, there was a priest who was very talented, very bright, very accomplished. He easily rose in the Church hierarchy. And yet as power does to us many times, he became very impatient with the limitations of people. He became arrogant and rude and yet everyone, including fellow priests around him could not give him feedback or correct him. Everyone was simply scared of him. And so he became unreachable, untouchable, and overly powerful. Until one day, when he made a big mistake and crashed. While his friends worried what this failure would do to him, one old priest simply said, This is God reaching out to him and saving him, before it’s too late. Amen.