Prayers in Correction

In the Gospel of St Matthew chapter 18:15-20 Jesus put fraternal correction and prayer at the same moment of his preaching. Jesus is telling us that the most significant characteristic of fraternal correction or the best effective way of fraternal correction is to pray for the person who needs to be corrected.

There is a not holy joke that says:

“Oh, Father I prayed for the person who hurts me, I prayed for my enemies.” And then the priest asked: “So what is your prayer for your enemies?”, and the man said: “I prayed that all of them will die.”

My sisters and brothers, that is not how we should pray for them. The gospel is clear. We pray for them, confront them in order to win them back, make them realize their mistake, and bring that person back to God. There are already so many sins committed in the name of fraternal correction, there are already so many persons that are hooked under the banner of constructive criticism, but not so many are really praying for the people we wish to correct.

Trash talking somebody will not solve any dispute or solve problems in relationships. Gossip will just make it worse. Pope Francis once said: “Gossiping is terrorism.” Let us reflect and consider this; If somebody commits an offense against us, instead of talking to the person first, can we bring our conversation to GOD first? If somebody has hurt you; talk to God about the person, if somebody needs correction; talk to God about the person, and if somebody needs to be criticized; talk to God about the person. The advice is “TALK TO GOD FIRST”

The first and foremost effective and responsible way of correcting people is by PRAYER. We must realize that it is not our good works that change hearts, it is not our beautiful words that make people change their ways, it is only the GRACE OF GOD that can change the hearts of people and NOT US. That is why PRAYER is the most important, vital instrument in FRATERNAL CORRECTION.

We will pray today for the people we want to correct, we will pray today for the people we are tempted to criticize, and we will pray today for the people who have hurt us, and we will talk to God about them.