23rd Sunday, Admonish the Sinner

  

Image from the BALTIMORE CATECHISM.

The readings today place before us one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy, which is to admonish the sinner. In case we may have forgotten, there are 7 spiritual works of mercy. To admonish the sinner, to instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubtful, to comfort the sorrowful, to bear wrongs patiently, to forgive all injuries, & to pray for the living and the dead. Now, let us see how the readings today, speak of the spiritual work of mercy of admonishing the sinner.

In the first reading from the Prophet Ezekiel, those who are appointed as watchman over the House of Israel, are to help the wicked to see the error of their ways. If the watchman fails to do so, not only will with the wicked perish in his sin, but so will the watchman. But if the watchman warns the wicked, and the wicked refuses to listen, --the wicked man shall die of his guilt, but the watchman shall be saved because he will have attempted to help him.

This reading today, is a reminder that we have an obligation to help someone who appears to be caught in sin, and our failure to help them will result in the same outcome as the sinner. If we remain silent, when we see someone doing something that is clearly wrong, we will be responsible for that same wrong, because it is really a failure to love them as we ought. We fail to be concerned about their salvation.

If the person is saying or doing something scandalous, there is an even greater obligation to say something to the person, most especially if one has authority of them.

A few years ago, the archbishop of San Francisco, publicly corrected a high profile politician, who was Catholic and is a member of his diocese. She considers herself a practicing Catholic, continues to receive Holy Communion even though she publicly supports abortion, including infanticide, and attempts to enact its legislation. It's important to admonish sinners, for the sake of their soul, and help amend their life, for love of neighbor, whose soul is at serious risk of losing heaven.

Because of many other Catholics causing scandal, some wondered why the US Bishops in their document that came out last year, on the Eucharist, during the Year of the Eucharist, failed to mention anything about Catholics causing public scandal and a Christian’s obligation to admonish a public sinner.

St. Paul admonished the Corinthians for their lack of respect towards the Eucharist. Back then, he told them, at times, they need to abstain from receiving Communion. Some of them were mixing food with the Mass. He said, “So then, when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, for when you are eating, some of you go ahead with your own private suppers. As a result, one person remains hungry and another gets drunk. Don't you have homes to eat and drink in?”

He warned of the consequences of receiving the Lord unworthily. He said, “Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died” (1 Cor 11:27-30). Paul foresees serious consequences for profaning the Eucharist and out of love for them and love for Jesus in the Eucharist, he admonished them.

While the first reading spoke about the obligation to admonish a sinner, the Gospel gives us the method in which we are to admonish fellow Christians.

First, we must speak with the person (alone and privately) and try to win the person over to the truth. If that doesn’t work, then we are to bring one or two others with us to speak to the person, to again attempt to convince them.

If that does not work, then we take it to the Church. Which means, a priest or the bishop should visit with the person about their behavior. And if that does not work, then we treat the person as a non-believer. Why would Jesus say to treat someone like a non-believer? Perhaps, if we continued to have a friendship with them, the person could be a source of an occasion of sin, such that by being around them, we may continue to fall into sin, or may even lose our faith. We have an obligation to protect our soul, and the souls of our family members from persons who could harm us spiritually.

When I was pastor of a Sacred Heart parish in Halstead, Jared (not his real name), who was a junior in high school, told his father that another boy was saying lies about his sister Kathy (not her real name), who was a freshman in high school. The boy thinking his father would do something about it, was surprised when he said to his son, “You take care of it. Talk to him yourself.” He wanted to teach his son a lesson, by doing as Jesus said in today’s Gospel. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone….etc...

The boy was fearful of a confrontation. He thought he may get into a fight. But he did as his father told him. He went to boy telling lies about his sister, and in a charitable way asked him to stop. To his surprise, the other boy said he wouldn’t do it anymore. It all ended, in a peaceful way. The father taught his son, that at times, he needs to address the problem himself privately, and to do it in the manner Jesus said in today’s Gospel. To go the person our self first.

When I was in high school, I worked at a grocery store. I stocked shelves and bagged groceries. There used to be a very negative woman customer, who came to the store every week. Every time she came in, she complained about something. For example, she would say, “Bananas are 4 lbs for a dollar at the other grocery store, and you are selling them for 3 lbs for a dollar.” Or she would say, “The peaches went up in price since last week, 10 cents a can.” Week after week, there was always some negative comment she would make.

It became so bad, as soon as we saw her coming down the aisle, we would immediately leave that aisle, and go to the next aisle to stock shelves. One day, she caught on to what we were doing. She said, “Why do you young people go down a different aisle, when you see me coming?” Being young and not so savvy as to what to say, I blurted out what was true. I said, “You complain every time you come in the store, and we don’t want you to ruin our day.” She said, “Do I really complain like that all the time?” I said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you are grumpy.” A week later, she came back to the store, and she never again, not even once, complained. She always had good positive things to say. While I hadn’t thought of correcting her, it seemed like the Lord presented the moment for me to blurt out some helpful words of advice to change her life for the better.

However, we should not become “admonish happy”, by correcting others for their faults all the time. Our first obligation is to first correct our self, to look inside our own heart, and see how we can live a better life, how we can follow Jesus and His Church’s teachings more faithfully.

We should also examine why we admonish someone. Our primary motivation should be Christian love-- to help our neighbor to obtain what he or she spiritually needs. But also to correct an injustice that may be happening. We shouldn’t do it to try to control others or in a spirit of authority.

St. Paul in the second reading, helps us to know how we are to treat our each other. He said, “You shall love your neighbor, as yourself”. We should do to others, what we would want others to do to us.

At times, because it may make matters worse, to correct someone by words, we may correct them indirectly by our good example, that we do not approve of their actions.

There is no greater way to love our neighbor, than to help them to get to heaven. Let us ask the Virgin Mary, to pray for us, so that we may be faithful in the role God has for us, in helping others to get to heaven. And may we see that admonishing others is a spiritual work of mercy, and may do it with tenderness and compassion.