FRATERNAL CORRECTION OR THE DEBT OF LOVE.

September 6, 2020
Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time - A

Readings: EZ 33:7-9; PS 95:1-2, 6-7, 8-9; ROM 13:8-10; MT 18:15-20. 

An Ethiopian proverb says, “The person who grew up without correction will find his mouth slipping instead of his foot.” A Danish proverb adds, “Correction is good when administered in time and with love.”

“If you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, I will hold you responsible for his death.” If there is one beautiful spiritual and human exercise that could be an expression of genuine love, it is none other but fraternal correction. By definition, fraternal or spiritual correction consists of admonishing one’s neighbor by a private individual with the purpose of reforming him or, if possible, preventing his sinful indulgence. St. Thomas Aquinas lays the moral grounds of that exercise. He teaches that by faith and because of our belongingness to Christ, we have the moral obligation to offer correction to each other. He says, “To correct the wrongdoer is a spiritual alms deed. But alms deeds are works of charity, as stated above. Therefore, fraternal correction is an act of charity (The Summa Theologiæ, II-II:33:1). For the 'Doctor Angelicus', we have it as an obligation to speak the truth when someone is in error. To keep quiet in front of obvious sinfulness or fault of one’s brother is to make oneself participant and co-responsible of that sin and guilty with the sinner.

In Christian life, silence in front of evil is a pang of guilt worthy of punishment. For, he who loves expresses his love by correcting and helping the sinner to avoid or get out from the snares of the evil.

The liturgy of this 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time A is beautiful catechesis on the exercise of spiritual and fraternal correction. In the first reading, the Lord makes it clear to the Prophet Ezekiel. He is warned on his obligation to admonish sinners of their sins. Just like the prophet, the Lord has appointed each one of us as sentry of our brothers and sisters. We have, therefore, the duty to tell them the truth and exhort each other to repentance. We are liable for one another’s life or death before God.

St. Paul, in the second reading, will insist on this liability calling it a debt. The Apostle of the Gentiles tells to the Romans, “Brothers and sisters: Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another.” As says the apostle, we should strive to avoid any other debt toward others, but only one should be our obligation, the debt of love. And Paul gives the reason, “for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” The words here have all their meanings and strength. Love for each other is an obligation, not an option. When we carry out that obligation, we have fulfilled all the other obligations of the Law. Love is the summary of all and the answer or solution to all.

Love, brethren, makes it a divine obligation for you and me to tell the truth to each other. Love obliges us to admonish one another when we sin. When there is love, there is no fear of telling the truth. For, it is done with charity and in order to help.

The Gospel comes to crown the teaching on fraternal love. The Lord Jesus teaches his disciples on what consists of fraternal correction and how it should be given, the steps to be followed. Fraternal correction, like any other spiritual exercises, obeys to some rules, mainly three steps: First, it must be an interpersonal and individual exercise. Hence the Lord said: “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone.” When the first phase fails, the second step consists to call a witness. If that second step fails, then comes the third, bring the matter before the Church. And then, if this third attempt is proved unsuccessful, nothing is left to do, but to dismiss the unrepentant brother, consider him as a pagan.

The teaching of Jesus on fraternal correction raises the triple dimension of sin. Sin is first a private and individual or interpersonal matter. But then it can turn to be involving one or two others people before becoming a communal matter. In this regard, St. Thomas Aquinas emphasizes: “Now a man's sin may be considered in two ways, first as being harmful to the sinner, secondly as conducing to the harm of others, by hurting or scandalizing them, or by being detrimental to the common good, the justice of which is disturbed by that man's sin.” So, the Lord teaches us how to exercise discipline in the Church as a community of brothers and sisters, gathered and united by the same love.

It is sad to see that, very often, many people forget or do not take seriously their obligation toward their brothers and sisters. Though we call each other brother and sister and even sing love, we do not say the truth to each other. We live in hypocrisy. We see and know what others do and how wrong are their actions, but then, either out of fear or selfishness, we do not tell them about it to help them amend their life. It is only when the worse happen, we react, claiming that we were aware of it.

I heard one day the sad story of one former seminarian, and that is common in the formation houses. It was a very good young man, convinced of his vocation and very willing to become a priest. He was, however, seduced by a young lady who used to visit the seminary. The companions of the boy knew about the fact, but none of them told him of the risk for his vocation, neither asked help from the formators. Rather, some even encouraged him, by covering his nocturnal outings from home and his absences during activities. Sadly, the time came when the boy could no longer hide and decided to leave. It is only after he left the seminary, that his companions, one by one started revealing the deal and confessing that they knew all about it. Nevertheless, they did nothing to help the one they used to call their brother. A palpable sign that there was no genuine brotherly love between them, otherwise they would have helped the buddy save his vocation.

Fraternal correction is the debt we owe one another out of love and because of our common belonging to Christ. Through it, we learn that true love is not selfish. Therefore, to love means not to seek oneself, but rather the good of the one whom we love. Sincere love is the most altruistic virtue.

We live in a world and in societies where everyone would like others to serve us. We want others to prove that they love us. We also want them to forgive us when we harm them and to beg our forgiveness when they harm us. Sometimes we are the ones who do the wrong, but we would like others to take the first step towards reconciliation. Many of us think that everyone owes us love. What we forget is that love is not so much what we receive but what we give. It is by giving love that you receive love. It is by paying our debt of love to others that we indebt them of love toward us.