Pope Francis and Admonishing the Sinner. More on ‘Who Died and Made You Pope?”

A few weeks ago, I wrote a piece dealing with the current trend of Catholic laity calling for certain politicians and public figures to be denied the Eucharist.

I took a stance against this action, citing that by doing so we encroach on the territory of Church authority. I received a great deal of supportive messages after publishing that blog. And I also heard from a few dissenters who felt it should be our Christian duty to deny the Eucharist to certain politicians.

They were quick to say that this would be “admonishing the sinner” which is something that Christ himself instructed us to do.

Let’s take a look at that Scripture:

If your brother sins, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. (Mt 18:15)

Calling someone out on the Internet does not fit that bill, does it?

While we may not realize it, there is a fine line between admonishment and judgment. Our actions have a way of showing which side of that line we are on.

So what should we do instead? What should we do when we TRULY care about the soul and well being of another person? What should we do when we TRULY want to help them?

If our hearts are truly burdened for our brothers and sisters, instead of chastising them publically, we could do something much more powerful We could appeal to God on their behalf.

We could pray.

Recently, in one of his most beautiful homilies, our Holy Father called for the faithful to imitate Christ as “intercessor, advocate, and lawyer.”

“Jesus, before the Father, never accuses! It’s the opposite: he defends! He’s the first Paraclete. Then, he sends the second, who is the (Holy) Spirit. He is the defender: he comes before the Father to defend us against the charges.”… more than accusers, we have to be defenders of others before the Father. I see a bad thing in someone – do I go defend him? No! But keep quiet! Go pray and defend him before the Father as Jesus does. Pray for him, but do not judge! Because if you do, when you do something bad, you will be judged.”

Let’s remember these words and take them to heart.