Counsel For Correction

Si autem peccaverit in te frater tuus, vade et corripe eum inter te et ipsum solum. Si te audierit, lucratus eris fratrem tuum. Hic tangit correctionis et revocationis modum: et dicuntur duo, quorum primum est revocatio: secundum autem est confirmatio sententiae contra obstinatum. In primo tres inducit gradus, correptionis convictionis, accusationis, vel denuntiationis. De gradu correptionis, dicit duo, quis debet corripi, et qualiter. Quis? Si peccaverit. Tria dicit si peccaverit quia non corripitur, nisi qui peccavit, non est autem peccatum, nisi mortale peccatum: de aliis enim venialibus non est correptio. Quia Iac 3 dicitur In multis offendimus omnes. 1 Ioan 1 Si dixerimus, quia peccatum non habemnus, nosipsos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est. 'In te...' Secundum est, quod dicit: In te. Et in hoc notantur tria secundum Glossam: Primum notatur ex discretione naturae: In te enim peccare, est in hominem peccare, et non in Deum. Si enim in Deum solum peccat: tunc aut peccatum ejus in nullum omnino nocumentum proximi procedit, aut ita est principaliter in Deum, quod etiam per accidens nocet proximo. Primo modo est peccatum occultum, quod nemo scit, nisi solus Deus: et tu ut Deus: et tunc, ut dicit Glossa, Non est nostri arbitrii aliquid facere de peccato illo, nisi forte admonendo in " secreto, sicut Deus monet: sed non " possumus procedere ad publicum adhibendo unum, vel plures, ut prodamus. Alio modo est in Deum principaliter, et secundario in proximum, sicut est blasphemia, vel retractio a sacrificio, vel laude Dei: et de hoc, in quantum est contra proximum, debet fieri correctio: sed de offensa et emenda non est nostri arbitrii aestimare secundum satisfactionem proximi, sed potius secundum injuriam illatam Deo. 1 Reg. 2: Si peccaverit vir in virum, placari ei potest Deus: si autem in Dominum peccaverit vir, quis orabit pro eo? Alio modo, in te, notat discretionem personae: et hoc duobus modis. Uno modo, quantum ad peccati nocumentum quod in te est, et non in alium: sicut si contumeliam, vel damnum irrogat tibi: tunc enim tui arbitrii est remittere injuriam, et monere de correctione peccati, sicut inferius habetur, quod peccanti in nos septuagies septies dimittendum est, si veniam petat. Alio modo in te peccat, sicut dicit Augustinus, quando te sciente peccat. Sed tunc distinguendum est : quia te sciente intelligitur, te sciente tua scientia, quae scientia humana est, hoc est, quando signo, vel facto prodit in tuam notitiam, quod signum, vel factum est infallibilis nuntius peccati: quia tunc fit te sciente, et non temerario judicio tuo. Si autem venit ad te scientia Dei, hoc est, cordis secreti revelatione, non hoc est te sciente, sed. potius Deo sciente, et te ut Deo sciente: et sive ita revelet tibi in forma confessionis, sive sine forma confessionis, non debes procedere ad correctionem. Adhuc, si fallaci nuntio veniat ad te, non fit te sciente: sicut si dicatur tibi, et nullum aliud extet indicium: tunc enim nisi valde confirmetur verbum dicentis, non debes credere: et ideo non ad correctionem procedere. Sed quando visus probat, vel alia certa indicia, tunc Sit te sciente humana scientia, et tunc fit in te, hoc est, contra te : quia te scandalizat, quantum in ipso est: et fit contra cordis tui dilectionem, qua diligis fratrem sicut teipsum : et ideo debes procedere ad correctionem : et hoc est quod dicitur, 1 ad Corinth 7: Sic peccantes in fratres, ei percutientes conscientiam eorum infirmam, in Christum peccatis. Frater Tuus... Deinde tangit, quis peccat, quem debes diligere sicut teipsum: et ideo dicit Augustinus, quod hoc non fit crudeliter, sed misericorditer, ne contagione pestifera plurimos perdat. 2 Machab 6: Multo tempore non sinere peccatoribus ex sententia agere, sed statim ultiones adhibere, magni beneficii est indicium. Levit. 19: Diliges amicum tuum sicut teipsum. Et ideo sicut in meipso volo emendari peccatum sine confusione, si fieri potest, ita volo in proximo. Vade... Sed si prope me est, aequaliter ibo? Responsio. Vade duobus pedibus, compassionis, et charitatis: tunc enim non indignabitur. Jerem. 10: Corripe me, Domine ... verumtamen non in furore tuo, ne forte ad nihilium redigas me. Psal. 6: Domine, ne in furore tuo arguas me, neque in ira tua corripias me. Corripe eum... Proverb. 17: Plus proficit correptio apud prudentem, quam centum plagae apud stultum. Proverb. 29: Virga atque correctio tribuit sapientiam. 2 ad Thessal. 3: Nolite quasi inimicum existimare, eum scilicet qui non obedit verbo nostro, sed corripite ut fratrem. Inter te et ipsum solum... Ne forte publicatus, humanam amittat verecundiam: et tunc non curet corrigi. Jerem. 3: Frons mulieris meretricis facta est tibi, noluisti erubescere. Si te audierit... Corrigendo vitium, lucratus es fratrem tuum. Jacob 5: Qui converti fecerit peccatorem ab errore viae suae, salvabit animam ejus a morte, et operiet multitudinem peccatorum. Sanctus Albertus Magnus Commentarium In Evangelium Mattheum, Caput XVIII Source: Here p322

If your brother sins against you, go and correct him, just you and him alone, and if he hears you, you shall have profited your brother. 1 Here He touches on the way of correction and recalling, and they are spoken of in two ways, of which the first is recalling, and the second is the confirmation of sentence against the obstinate. Firstly He introduces three steps, the conviction of correction, the accusation, and the denunciation. Regarding the step of correction He says two things, who should be corrected and how. Who? He who shall have sinned. And He says three things about him who shall have sinned, that a man is not corrected unless he has sinned, but it is not a sin unless a mortal sin, for concerning the other venial sins there is no correction, since in the third chapter of James it is said, 'We all offend in many things.' In the first chapter of John, 'If we say that we do not sin we delude ourselves and the truth is not in us.' 2 'Against you...' Secondly He says, if he sins 'Against you...' And in this the gloss notes three things: First the discrimination of nature, for to sin 'Against you' is to sin against a man, and not against God. For if he sinned only against God, then either his sin did no harm to a neighbour, or it was principally against God and accidently to the injury of a neighbour. In the first case the sin is hidden, and no one knows of it but God, and you like God. Then, as the Gloss says, 'It is not for us to do something about that sin,' unless perhaps to admonish in secret, as God does, but we are not able to bring it into public view, before one or many, so that we might expose it. There is another way in which there is sin principally against God and secondarily against a neighbour, as in blasphemy, or withdrawal from sacrifice, or praise of God, and concerning this, in much as it is troubles a neighbour, it should be corrected, but it is not of our will to judge for the satisfaction of a neighbour concerning the offense and recompense, but rather according to the injury perpetrated against God. In the second chapter of the first book of Kings: 'If a man sins against a man, it is possible for him to placate God, but if he sins against the Lord, who shall pray for him?' 3 In another way this 'Against you' signifies discrimination of persons, and this in two ways. In one way, as much as the harm of the sin was directed at you and not at another, as with contumely, or some loss inflicted on you, and then it is of your own will to forgive the injury and to admonish so that sin might be corrected, as it is given below, when he who sins against us seventy seven times should be forgiven, if he seeks forgiveness. A man sins against you in another way, as Augustine says, when he knowingly sins against you, but here one must distinguish, because knowingly is understood as you knowing with your knowledge, which is human knowledge, that is, when a sign or thing is set before your awareness, which sign or thing is an infallible proclaimer of sin, since then it is done with your knowledge, and there is no recklessness in your judgment. But if it comes to you through the knowledge of God, that is, by some secret revelation of the heart, this is not with your knowledge but rather God's knowledge, and you thus know like God, and thus when it is revealed in the form of confession, or without the form of confession, you should not proceed to correction. Yet if by a false report it comes to you, it is not by your knowledge, as if it was said to you, 'There is no sign of it,' and then if there is no strong confirmation of what is spoken, you should not believe it, and therefore not proceed to correction. But when sight confirms it, or there are other sure indications, then you know according to human knowledge, and then it is done to you, that is, against you, because you are scandalised, as much as it is against you, and against the love of your heart, by which you love your brother as yourself, and therefore you should proceed to correction, and this is spoken of in the seventh chapter of the first letter to the Corinthians, 'So sinning against brothers, you strike the conscience of those who are weak, sinning against Christ.' 4 'You brother...' Next He touches on the one who sins, whom you should love as yourself, and therefore Augustine says, 'This is not cruel but merciful, lest a corrupting contagion ruin many.' And in the second book of Maccabees: 'That sinners are not allowed to act as they will for a long time but instantly reproof is administered, is a sign of great goodness.' In the nineteenth chapter of Leviticus, 'You shall love your friend as yourself.' 5 Therefore as I would wish to amend my fault without confusion, so as far as it possible I wish act with my neighbour. 'Go...' But if he is close to me, shall I go in justice? Go with two feet, with compassion and charity, then you shall not go resentfully. In the tenth chapter of Jeremiah, 'Correct me, Lord ... but not in your wrath, lest perhaps you reduce me to nothing.' In the sixth Psalm, 'O Lord, do not dispute with me in your wrath, nor correct me in your anger.' 6 'Correct him...' In the seventeenth chapter of Proverbs, 'Correction with prudence profits more than a hundred blows with a fool.' In the twenty nineth chapter, 'A rod and correction gives wisdom.' In the third chapter of the second letter to the Thessalonians, 'Do not judge him as an enemy,' that is, the one who is not obedient to your word, 'but correct him like a brother.' 7 'Just you and him alone...' Lest in public he lacks human modesty and he cares not for correction. In the third chapter of Jeremiah, 'The brow of the harlot woman was yours, you would not blush.' 8 'If he will hear you...' For the correction of fault, '...you have profited your brother.' In the fifth chapter of the letter of James, 'He who turns a sinner from the way of his error, saves his soul from death, and covers a multitude of sins.' 9 Saint Albert The Great, Commentary On The Gospel of St Matthew, Chapter 18 1 Mt 18.15 2 James 3.2, 1 Jn 1.8 3 1 Kings 2.25 4 1 Cor 8.12 5 2 Mac 6.13, Levit 19.18 6 Jerem 10.24, Ps 6.2 7 Prov 17.10, Prov 29.15, 2 Thes 3.15 8 Jerem 3.3 9 James 5.20