On given weekends during the present Jubilee Year of celebrating God’s Mercy, we are asked to focus our attention on the Spiritual Works of Mercy. On the weekend of February 6th & 7th, our attention was directed to the one entitled “Admonishing the Sinner.” The purpose of this article is to express thoughts on this Spiritual Work of our Lord’s Mercy.
For many of us, one of the hardest demands of Christian love is the challenge to admonish persons who are acting in ways that are harmful to themselves and to others. It’s hard enough to correct persons who are structurally under us in one way or other. Many parents don’t like to discipline their children. Supervisors where we work don’t like to call those who work under them on the carpet for misbehavior. As difficult as it is to correct persons who are under us, this is something that is expected when and as this is needed. We don’t like to correct others because of the responses that our efforts to correct others often evoke. Much of the time when we reach out to correct others, we meet with anger and resentment.
The most difficult setting which calls for fraternal correction occurs when persons whom we regard as our equals or even superiors step out of line. Because we dread their reaction to our efforts to correct them, we can all too easily give in to the temptation to say nothing and to do nothing. Along this line, we can say: “if Hank or Susan want to act in this way, that is their business. What right do I have to meddle in their lives?”
As we grow in the ability to see ourselves as members of the Body of Christ, we will appreciate that we are responsible for one another. The Lord is counting on each of us to be His instruments in enabling persons with whom we live and associate to become the best version of themselves.
We need to start with ourselves. How do you and I respond when someone who cares about us offers to correct us? One of King David’s virtues is that he was willing to accept correction as this was offered to him through others. When the prophet, Nathan, brought to David’s attention that he (David) was guilty of the crimes of adultery and murder, David repented and changed the way he lived. As we are open to accept correction as this is offered to us through others and act upon this as the Lord leads us to do this, we will have what it takes to offer to correct others when they are acting in ways that are hurtful to themselves and to others. We can put ourselves in the shoes of those whom we would offer to correct.
The Lord would work through us to correct others first through the example that we try to set. As others see about us that we are open to correction, they might be open to the correction that the Lord would offer to them through us. At times, beyond our example, fraternal correction calls for us to say and/or do things that are not pleasant for others to experience. In some cases, persons whom we offer to correct may lash out at us. The Lord gives us the strength to live with this.
Let’s not get down on ourselves when our efforts to correct others are not seeming to make an impact on the persons whom we want to help in this way. Our role in relating to others is to sow seeds. May we grow in the assurance that in the Lord’s good time and in His way, He will produce an abundant harvest from our efforts done in the spirit of charity to correct others.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Nelson Beaver – Pastor