In the first reading we heard the command to the prophet Ezechiel with regard to individuals. He has to correct when the Holy Spirit directs him. We may be sure that the prophets lived exemplary lives, and in so doing they gave an example which helped maintain an acceptable standard of morality. In this context, we may recall that when St Peter, in his dream, was invited to eat unclean birds and reptiles he protested that nothing uncean had ever passed his lips. As the prophets, so the apostles. Exact observance of the lesser commands of the Law argues strongly for the observance of the greater.
In New Testament times, St Paul presents the new commandment, the law of love, as the fulfilment of the individual prescriptions of the old law. If we love our neighbours we will commit no offence against them. Our first duty, by which we live as true members of the church, is to work our our own salvation with fear and trembling. We bear prophetic witness by good lives in fidelity to our commitments, be they in the cloister, in the family, or in public or commercial life. In the monastery our conduct is guided by obedience and by the customs of the house: what our elders do. It is a basic duty to pray for each other. This is a responsiblity of particular importance when we become aware that a brother is experiencing any difficulty.
These are some of the factors that demand our consideration before we embark on fraternal correction, one of the topics of which Our Lord speaks in the Gospel. In continuity with the commission of Ezechiel, St Paul, for the whole of his Christian life, gave a witness of astounding courage and perseverance: his witness to Christ before the Jews of his day. For thirty years he did not fail to give priority to proclaiming Jesus Christ to them in every city he visited, receiving in return at least five beatings and being stoned on three ocassions. Only at Corinth, where he spent eighteen months, did he receive a revelation that he would not be molested. His love never allowed him to give up on them, nor abandon them as incorrigible, although they were ever seeking to sabotage his mission to us gentiles. In his love he would be separated from Christ himself eternally rather than see them go to perdition. This complete selflessness qualified him to utter the severe rebukes that are recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. May we have his charity and his courage to proclaim Our Lord Jesus by the witness of our lives