How We Treat Sinners
As I prayed the Office of Readings for Saturday Week I recently, I was struck by the following verses in the first reading, “Brothers, even if a person is caught in some transgression, you who are spiritual should correct that one in a gentle spirit, looking to yourself, so that you also may not be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:1-2, translation as in the New American Bible Revised Edition). I was immediately reminded of the third Spiritual Work of Mercy, “Admonish the Sinner.”
Admonishing the sinner can be difficult today. There are those who seem to think that saying anything another person does is a sin qualifies as hate speech and/or intolerance (see “Tolerance, Hate Speech, and Dialogue”). Admonishing is not hate speech. The Merriam-Webster Android phone app defines “admonish” as “to express warning or disapproval to especially in a gentle, earnest, or solicitous manner” (access date, February 17, 2025). In admonishing a sinner we are simply trying to fulfill the Lord’s instructions in Ezekiel 3:17-21. It is their choice to accept the warning or not.
As I continued to pray the Office of Readings for Saturday Week I, I found the second reading (From a sermon by Blessed Isaac of Stella, abbot. Sermo 31: PL 194, 1292-1293) describing our goal when we admonish the sinner.
The first part that does this is, “Why, brother, are we so little concerned to seek one another’s well-being, so that where we see a greater need, we might show a greater readiness to help and carry one another’s burdens?” Our goal in admonishing the sinner is to care for the needs of their soul. We are all sinners who carry the burden of sin. We need to help one another deal with our sins. Only God can remove our sins, but we can help each other recognize our sins and correct our behavior.
As we help each other recognize our sins, we are not to leave others to face their sins alone. Blessed Isaac of Stella writes, “And why can I not instead generously offer him consolation?” We are not to attack them for their sins. Blessed Isaac of Stella continues, “Whoever attacks a brother in need, or plots against him in his weakness of whatever sort, surely fulfills the devil’s law and subjects himself to it. Let us then be compassionate toward one another, loving all our brothers, bearing one’s another’s weaknesses, yet ridding ourselves of our sins.”
As we read in The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy (Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization, The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor, 2015, page 53), the spiritual work of mercy “admonish the sinner” is inspired by Matthew 18:15-17, “If your brother sins [against you], go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that ‘every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.” Our focus in admonishing the sinner must always be to lead them back to our Lord. It is a work of mercy when we offer it with hope.
To do so is to never be an act of judgment of our brother or sister. It is to be an act of compassion where we offer the medicine of mercy. As Pope Francis writes, “We recall the poignant words of Saint John XXIII when, opening the Council, he indicated the path to follow: “Now the Bride of Christ wishes to use the medicine of mercy rather than the taking up the arms of severity…. Show her herself a loving mother to all.” (Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus, 4, italics & bold my emphasis, Pope Francis, Misericordiae Vultus Bull of Indiction of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy. April 11, 2015. https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/bulls/documents/papa-francesco_bolla_20150411_misericordiae-vultus.html.)
What a person needs when found in sin is mercy. The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy states, “The word for mercy in Latin is Misericordia. The etymology of the word derives from the Latin misere (misery, necessity) and cord/cordis (heart) and is identified with having a heart full of solidarity with those in need” (15). Our actions towards a person who has sinner must be to help them in their spiritual needs (see Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2447).
We further read, “In this sense, then, it should be noted that correction should be made not as a judgment, but as a service of truth and love, since it addresses the sinner not as an enemy but as a brother (see 2 Thessalonians 3:15). It can thus result in leading a brother who was becoming lost back to life (Jas 5:19). This fraternal correction is to be exercised firmly (see Ti 1:13), but without harshness (Ps 6:2), without exacerbating or humiliating the one admonished (Eph 6:4).” (The Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy, 53).
I offer a caution as we prepare to approach any person who has sinned. We must think before we speak (see my recent article, “Thoughtful Speech”). We are advised that “Fraternal correction requires discernment in order to choose the right moment; to correct so as to increase and not decrease a brother’s self-esteem; to exercise it only in truly essential things; to strive to make free rather than to judge and condemn; to correct knowing that you are a sinner and in need of correction” (Corporal and Spiritual Works, 54).
Before we say anything to a person who has sinned, we must first acknowledge that we are sinners ourselves. As Jesus says, “Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove that splinter from your eye,’ while the wooden beam is in your eye? You hypocrite, remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter from your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:3-5).
It is only when we have received God’s mercy ourselves and see it as an unmerited gift that we can admonish a sinner as a work of mercy.
When we feel called by God to say something to the sinner, we must follow Jesus’ example in how He addresses the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more” (John 8:11). He does not condemn her but neither does He ignore or deny that she has sinned.
Jesus did not come into the world to condemn anyone. Rather, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:16-17). We must seek the same, for all to be saved.
After I pray the Office of Readings, I follow it with Morning Prayer. Part of Morning Prayer in the Liturgy of the Hours is to recite the Canticle of Zechariah (Luke 1:68-79). As I did so on Saturday with the Spiritual Work of Mercy to admonish the sinner on my mind and in my heart, some of the verses struck me.
“He has come to his people and set them free.” What are we set free from? Sin. The canticle later says, “to set us free from the hands our enemies.” Our greatest enemy is sin. It is our Lord alone who can set us free from our sins, but we can help one another in our struggles against sin.
“To give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.” Salvation is not something we can earn ourselves. It is a gift from God. It is when we are forgiven our sins that we experience God’s Mercy and come to know in our hearts what it means to be saved.
The Canticle of Zechariah ends, “In the tender compassion of our God the dawn from on high shall break upon us, to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Darkness? Sin is darkness. We find peace when God removes the darkness of sin.
Our goal in admonishing a sinner must never be an act of judgment or condemnation. Our goal is to lead them to God’s peace through an experience of mercy.
Peace,
Fr. Jeff P.S. If you struggle with forgiving yourself or others, I invite you to watch my video presentation, Why Is It So Hard to Forgive Myself (and others)?