Sep 10 Sun
Fraternal Correction.
"Correct him alone between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have saved your brother.” In the Church, what separates a brother from the stranger or the enemy lies precisely in this: "rebuke him alone". Jesus asks that, alone, like a brother or a friend whom one loves well but who is mistaken, one delicately warns him of the evil that he can cause himself and to the Church.
"Alone.” It is an invitation to delicacy; to charity that moves to correction, loosening or holding back the tongue depending on the case; to prudence that seeks the right moment and the right word; to humility that chooses the right tone of those who do not ignore that we must also be corrected; to fortitude and truthfulness that reveal the strong and whole man, the authentic Christian.
Parents should avoid scolding a child in front of the rest. And so should superiors, educators..., everyone should do the same. Alone, in a sincere and respectful dialogue.
Sacred Scripture teaches us that God once made use of the prophets, people full of fortitude and charity, to warn men, even kings and princes, when they went astray.
Sincere love for those who belong to the Church must overcome, with Christian fortitude, a false fear that the correction will not be well received, that it will lead to alienation, the loss of a friendship or the making of enemies.
Even so, we too often fall into the same fault or do not possess the knowledge and experience of those who should be warned.
Precisely because it is moved by love and made with the delicacy of one who knows himself to be a sinner, everyone, but especially parents, teachers and educators, who have a responsibility for others, should try to look more to the good of the Church and of others than to the fear of grieving.
"If he listens to you..." We must gratefully accept fraternal correction, which is undoubtedly always more costly to the one who does it than to the one who receives it. "My son, do not despise the correction of the Lord, nor be discouraged when He reproves you; for the Lord corrects whom He loves...what son is there whom his father does not correct? If you were deprived of the correction, which all have received, you would be bastards and not sons...”
He who corrects or is corrected, if he is simple and strong, knows that he is loved, helped, and not criticized. Thus, "where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them," the Lord tells us today.
The video: