In the Epistle reading, we hear the Holy Apostle Paul exhort the Corinthian Church in the following way: "Let love be sincere. Hate what is evil. Hold on to what is good." This words are good reminder to all Christians, of whatever Church, whether at Corinth or at Rome or in 21st century North America that the ethical obligations of our faith go far beyond being tolerant and nice. In fact, the love that the Apostle is here talking about could appear very intolerant and very NOT nice. This is case because of the crucial second clause of Paul's exhortation: "Hate what is evil." Paul is placing the obligation on his hearers to detest sin with all their strength, because they love God with all their strength.
True hatred of sin obligates us to try to stamp it out wherever we find, starting with the dark nooks and crannies of our own life. Yet, at the same time, it also obligates us to offer admonishment and exhortation to others, rebuking sin when we see it around us, while encouraging others to turn from sin to the loving ways of the True God.
What is crucial to realize in this consideration is that, according to Paul, loving others without hating sin isn't really sincere love. It's just a cheap knock-off. Further, it is no help to anyone. It doesn't lead to salvation either for us or those around us, because it goes without saying, a just God would and should hold us responsible if we could have offered encouragement, correction and admonition, helping those around us grow closer to God, and we did not.
Recognizing sin on our own lives and determining to change our lives through repentance takes courage. It takes even more courage to allow ourselves to be impelled by charity to intervene in the lives of others. It is an action that is often misunderstood and resented, because despite the fact that charity is the motive force, others do not often recognize it as charity. Therefore our actions have to be directed by prudence with the help of the Holy Spirit, so that others can indeed be corrected, but in such a way that they do not feel accused."
The first rule is to "hate what is evil" in our own lives first, before turning that hatred towards the appearance of sin in then lives of others. It does us and them no good to "try and remove the speck in their eye, while we still have the beam in our own eye." We must turn our attention and effort completely towards eliminating sin in our own hearts for the love of God. We must not make a show of this, of course, but, over time, the effort and the action of the Holy Spirit will show of itself, and this alone will help to lead others on the way of salvation.
The second rule for us is to remember that we cannot rebuke sin in others' lives. We can only rebuke the appearance of sin. This is the case, because we have no access to the conscience of any other person. No matter how improbable, it is always possible that what appears to be sinful in the lives of those around us is, in their case, inculpable ignorance. They simply did not know the right way. Had they known the right way, they would have followed it. Thus, the appearance of sin in the lives of others around us becomes a motive for humility and meekness, because even though we know the right way, we still frequently depart from it and go our own way. It is always useful to recall the well-known story about Saint Antony the Great. When he became very advanced in the spiritual life, he asked God to reveal to him whether there was anyone in Egypt who was more advanced than he. God led him to a shopkeeper in the city of Alexandria. When Antony asked the shopkeeper about his spiritual life, the shopkeeper told him, "you should be talking to everybody else in the neighborhood. I'm quite sure that all of them will be saved, while I alone may be lost."
The third and last rule for us in consideration of correcting others is to be oblique as much as possible. We can avoid counterproductive accusation by speaking in generalities. The laws of the moral life are general, equal for all. So, we can speak of them in a general sense, avoiding the need to lay a direct accusation against the behavior of one of our neighbors. We can also use the same obliquity by using ourselves as a negative example. By using myself as an example of what NOT to do, I can bring those around me to a knowledge of the requirements of the Christian life without accusation.
No comments:
Post a Comment