11-11-24 Antara Teguran dan Kasih: Inspirasi dari Santo Josemaría

Monday 32nd week in ordinary time "Lk 17:1-6" Jesus said to his disciples, "Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive him." Fraternal correction' is an obligation of charity: to help someone to be holier by pointing out some mistake or defect they may have. A good athlete always wants to improve. If by changing the length of his stride or by doing a particular exercise, he can run faster, wouldn't he be very grateful to be told about it? In the same way, saints have always been very grateful when they have been corrected. St Josemaría, for instance, was always very grateful when people corrected him and wrote down the corrections to improve. When the Holy See approved the Statutes of Opus Dei, the Vatican didn't agree with allowing the members of the Work to correct the Founder, since (according to traditional custom) "a superior cannot be corrected by his subordinates". But St Josemaría stuck to his guns, arguing that he shouldn't be deprived of the 'work of mercy' which was being corrected by others. Eventually they agreed a compromise: approval was given to his having two guardians or aides who would live close to him, advising and correcting him - Bl Alvaro and Father Javier Echevarría. But in order to be corrected we need to be humble, and that is not easy. One day, St Josemaría confided to a group of young ladies: "Don Alvaro corrected me today. It was hard to accept it. So much so that I went to the oratory for a moment. Once there, I said, 'Lord, Alvaro's right and I'm wrong.' But after a second, I said, 'No, Lord, this time I am right. Alvaro doesn't let me get away with a single thing, and that doesn't seem like affection but cruelty.' And then I said, 'Thank you, Lord, for placing my son Alvaro near me, who is so fond of me that he doesn't let me get away with a single thing!'" Then, deeply moved and full of affection, he turned toward Bl Alvaro, who had been listening in silence, smiled at him, and said, "God bless you, Alvaro, my son!" Mary, Our Lady of Charity, teach me to help others be holy by practising fraternal correction.