195. Third Saturday of Ordinary Time

Meditations no. 76 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

The practice of fraternal correction in the Old and New Testaments.

One of the episodes in the life of King David serves to highlight the need to correct those who fall into sin. He had sinned by gravely transgressing one of the commandments of the Law of God. And the Lord sent Nathan to David. Only after a long conversation did David acknowledge his fault and exclaim: I have sinned against the Lord. We need to bear in mind that David was well instructed and very familiar with the Law. St John Chrysostom puts it as follows: Who was there who was more discerning than David? And yet he did not realize his grave sin. Desire had gained mastery over his thoughts, and stupor and lethargy possessed his soul. He needed the light of the prophet’s words to show him what he had done. Therefore the Lord wishes that we should go to the sinner and speak to him of his sin.

Christ himself tells us what we are to do: Go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. Our Lord also gives us an example of to how to carry out this advice. On one occasion a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed … But when the Pharisees heard it they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” Jesus corrected them, but with such tact that, apart from themselves, no one realized that he had done so. Again St John Chrysostom comments: If he had made a long speech to them and held them up to ridicule and afterwards punished them severely, no one would have tried to stop him. But he didn’t act that way. The Lord takes great care not to anger them; he exhorts them to moderation, thus preparing them to amend their ways.

When correcting someone, we should act in the same way as our Lord did, and show all possible affection and tact, or what St Paul calls a spirit of gentleness, out of love for the person we are correcting. St Augustine writes: If you correct out of self-love, it is worth nothing. If you do so out of love for your brother, you do excellently. Christ’s words tell us which kind of love should move us. “If he listens to you,” the Lord says, “you have gained your brother.” Try, then, to win him over. It is not enough merely to tell a person where he has gone wrong. We must also do everything in our power, by our prayer and example, to help him overcome his fault. Thus St Paul, after pointing out the need to correct a person who has done wrong, adds: Encourage the faint-hearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.

There is great power in fraternal correction. The Apostle James writes: My brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Overcoming the false excuses for not correcting others.

We are familiar with the story of David’s repentance and contrition, as expressed in the Psalm which the liturgy presents to us as a model of penitential prayer. It begins: Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. David did penance. He won grace from God and is now in heaven - all as a result of a fraternal correction made in time.

There is a great responsibility on us to ensure that no one in the Work loses their vocation. It would be a criminal lack of charity in us if we were not to notice that someone’s physical health was failing; but it would be even more criminal, if we were not sufficiently watchful to discern the first signs of a spiritual weakness that could be fatal.

That is why I’ve told you that I don’t excuse from sin, in some cases grave sin, those who have lived with a son of mine who abandons his vocation, on account of their failure to give him all the help he needed to persevere, a help he had a right to. We must help in good time, and that time is now.

A great many false reasons might occur to us to justify our not fulfilling this duty of justice and charity. We might think that we shouldn’t correct someone who is more virtuous and supernaturally-minded than ourselves; but this, as we know very well, is false humility. We might be afraid of hurting or saddening the person concerned; but this is the result of human outlook, and probably also means that we have judged the other person rashly. As St Augustine says: It frequently happens that a man is downcast for a short time while he is being reproved, and that he resists and fights back, but afterwards he reflects in solitude where there is no one but God and himself, and where he does not fear the displeasure of men by being corrected, but does fear the displeasure of God by refusing correction. Thereafter he does not repeat the act which was justly censured, but now loves his brother, whom he sees as the enemy of his sin, as much as he hates the sin itself.

Nothing should hinder us from fulfilling this duty. We must be ready to set aside comfort and self-love, which might appear in the guise of forgetfulness or a failure to notice what needs correcting. We should recall what our Father told us: When you practise fraternal correction, besides practising charity towards your brothers or sisters, you are also loving the Work, because you are sanctifying it.

Duty to be a “Good Shepherd” for one another.

If you have a true fraternal spirit, each of you, besides being a sheep in the sheepfold of the Work, will also be in some manner the “Good Shepherd”. My children have the duty to give spiritual guidance to their brothers or sisters, prudently and sometimes heroically. Each of you has an “outlet” in the weekly chat, where you can talk of your troubles and worries, coming to accept them not with mere resignation but with the perspective which faith provides. There you also speak about your prayer and work, which make up our whole life.

But each of my children is also helped by the good spirit - the example - of the others, by fraternal correction, which savours of early Christianity, and also by the atmosphere which the others provide. We all understand things better when they are put to us in a practical way.

Thus you help the Directors, ensuring that your brothers or sisters can take your example as a model in practising the virtues. This example won’t be spectacular; it will be simple and natural, and will be seen when you work, when you rest, when you pray, when you laugh, when others notice that you have been crying: in other words, it will be seen all the time.

How important your example is; how much you can teach others! We are like a walled city: Frater qui adiuvatur a fratre quasi civitas firma. (A brother helped is like a strong city. )

Being good shepherds for our brothers or sisters, helping them through fraternal correction, doesn’t mean simply helping them at that particular moment. We must make use of every supernatural and human means to help them correct what has gone wrong. Our care and vigilance should be constant. In this you should act like good physicians, St John Chrysostom tells us. When they see that the sickness does not respond to the first treatment, they try another one, and then another. Sometimes they cut, and sometimes they use bandages. You too must be physicians of souls, and use every remedy in accordance with Christ’s laws. Then you will be rewarded with your own health and with that of the others.

Our Lady loves each of her children with the heart of a mother. If we ask her, she will teach us to love each other in deed and in truth.