St. John Chrysostom

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/chrysostom-Jєωs6.html#HOMILY_I

I could have said more than this, but to keep you from forgetting what I have said, I shall bring my homily to an end here with the words of Moses: "I call heaven and earth to witness against you". If any of you, whether you are here present or not, shall go to the spectacle of the Trumpets, or rush off to the ѕуηαgσgυє, or go up to the shrine of Matrona, or take part in fasting, or share in the Sabbath, or observe any other Jєωιѕн ritual great or small, I call heaven and earth as my witnesses that I am guiltless of the blood of all of you.

(2) These words will stand by your side and mine on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you heed them, they will bring you great confidence; if you heed them not or conceal anyone who dares to do those things, my words shall stand against you as bitter accusations. "For I have not shrunk from declaring to you the whole counsel of God".

(3) I have deposited the money with the bankers. It remains for you to increase the deposit and to use the profit from my words for the salvation of your brothers. Do you find it an oppressive burden to denounce those who commit these sins? It is an oppressive burden to remain silent. For this silence makes you an enemy to God and brings destruction both to you who conceal such sinners and to those whose sins go unrevealed. How much better it is to become hateful to our fellow servants for saving them to provoke God's anger against yourselves. Even if your fellow servant be vexed with you now, he will not be able to harm you but will be grateful later on for his cure. But if you seek to win your fellow servant's favor, if you remain silent and hurt him by concealing his sin, God will exact from you the ultimate penalty. Your silence will make God your foe and will hurt your brother; if you denounce him and reveal his sin, you will make God propitious and benefit your brother and you will gain as a friend one who was crazed but who learned from experience that you served him well.

(4) Do not think, then, that you are doing your brothers a favor if you should see them pursuing some absurdity and should fail to accuse them with all zeal. If you lose a cloak, do you not consider as your foe not only the one who stole it but also the man who knew of the theft and refused to denounce the thief? Our common Mother (the Church) has lost not a cloak but a brother. The devil stole him and now holds him in Judaism. You know who stole him; you know him who was stolen. Do you see me lighting, as it were, the lamp of my instruction and searching everywhere in my grief? And do you stand silent, refusing to denounce him? What excuse will you have? Will the Church not reckon you among her worst enemies? Will she not consider you a foe and destroyer?

(5) Heaven forbid that anyone who hears my words of advice should commit such a sin as to betray the brother for whom Christ died. Christ poured out his blood on his account. Are you too reluctant to utter a word on this account?

What if you know that if you tell a family member or friend what they are doing (or not doing) is a sin, they are not going to listen anyway. Isn't it better to keep them in invincible ignorance so that their sin is not held against them, rather then tell them, so that now their sin is held against them?

Short answer no.  Rather you would become a participant in their sin.  To remain silent is to condone their sinful actions.  It is not enough to do no evil, you must do good.  To be good requires good acts.  To do nothing is often an evil in itself, by doing nothing you would commit a sin of omission.  

Assumptions are often proven wrong to decide not to do a good act because you have assumed that it would be futile is a mild form of despair, desparing that your best effrots are of no value is another evil, rather pray to the Holy Spirit to fill you with the virtue of hope and allow God's grace to enter the sinner's life through your just admonishment.  

You need look no further than the apostles to realise the damage of an assumtion such as your's.  It would have been easy for them to say to themselves that the gentiles where better off left in their ignorance, but that God commanded them to preach the truth to all nations shows that this is not the case.  To leave the sinner in ignorance of their sins is leave them enslaved by the devil, rather give them the truth so that they may be set free.

To admonsih the sinner is a work of mercy towards the sinner and is one of our duties as Catholic's which we owe to our Lord in reparation for our sins and the sins of all peoples against him.

Another thing that must be considered is that ignorance does not have any salvic power, that is people cannot be saved by ignorance.  As long as they remain outside of the Catholic Church they will not be saved.    

Quote from: Magdalene

What if you know that if you tell a family member or friend what they are doing (or not doing) is a sin, they are not going to listen anyway. Isn't it better to keep them in invincible ignorance so that their sin is not held against them, rather then tell them, so that now their sin is held against them?

Short answer no.  Rather you would become a participant in their sin.  To remain silent is to condone their sinful actions.  It is not enough to do no evil, you must do good.  To be good requires good acts.  To do nothing is often an evil in itself, by doing nothing you would commit a sin of omission.  

Assumptions are often proven wrong to decide not to do a good act because you have assumed that it would be futile is a mild form of despair, desparing that your best effrots are of no value is another evil, rather pray to the Holy Spirit to fill you with the virtue of hope and allow God's grace to enter the sinner's life through your just admonishment.  

You need look no further than the apostles to realise the damage of an assumtion such as your's.  It would have been easy for them to say to themselves that the gentiles where better off left in their ignorance, but that God commanded them to preach the truth to all nations shows that this is not the case.  To leave the sinner in ignorance of their sins is leave them enslaved by the devil, rather give them the truth so that they may be set free.

To admonsih the sinner is a work of mercy towards the sinner and is one of our duties as Catholic's which we owe to our Lord in reparation for our sins and the sins of all peoples against him.

Another thing that must be considered is that ignorance does not have any salvic power, that is people cannot be saved by ignorance.  As long as they remain outside of the Catholic Church they will not be saved.    

A relative of mine had stopped attending Sunday Mass out of slothfulness. On the last holy day of obligation that came up, I did not inform this relative that this particular day was a day of obligation because I knew that, since she was slothful about attending Sunday Mass, she would probably be slothful about going to Mass on the holy day of of obligation. So, I did not inform her that that day was a holy day because I knew she would not go. Doesn't church teaching state that, if you know that a person has proven many times in the past adverse to listening to you tell them that something is a sin, then you are not obligated to continue to tell inform them that something they are doing is a sin?

The real question that need's to be asked is the one only you can answer.  Why are you desperately looking for a way to avoid doing your duty?  

Is it perhaps because it is a difficult task and you fear this person may hate you for doing it?

I've thought about this Carolus, and I think it is something one does for love, because only love would give one the courage to do it.  Heaven and hell, God and the devil have to be real to you.  Those saints who were closest to God were the most zealous for souls, you know.  I believe it is because they knew first hand what was at stake, and that is all they cared about.

It is definitely something one does for love but the sinner will not understand this and will often return your love with hate, this fear of been hated by the sinner is what stops many people from expressing their love through admonishment.

Quote from: Trinity

I've thought about this Carolus, and I think it is something one does for love, because only love would give one the courage to do it.  Heaven and hell, God and the devil have to be real to you.  Those saints who were closest to God were the most zealous for souls, you know.  I believe it is because they knew first hand what was at stake, and that is all they cared about.

It is definitely something one does for love but the sinner will not understand this and will often return your love with hate, this fear of been hated by the sinner is what stops many people from expressing their love through admonishment.

I've told some of my siblings why they have to go to Church, and I answer any questions they have to the best of my abilities.  I'd like to keep telling them about Catholicism, but instigating conversations about it would probably ruin my relationship with them, they already (including my parents) make fun of me.  For now, I feel all I can do is pray for them, and plant green scapulars all over the house... does anyone have any success stories with green scapulars?  

As far as fallen-away Catholics go, I think as long as they KNOW how you feel about the issue -- that you are happy and grateful to be a Catholic, and you don't hide "who you are" around them, your very presence will be poking their conscience.

But I must say, that a heavy-hand is not always the best way to win someone's conversion.

If my mom had got up on the table and jumped up and down (when I was younger, and in great need of prayers and a conversion from worldliness), my pride would not have let me convert to loving the Faith I was brought up in. What she did was pray for me, and set a very Catholic example. She was firm in her faith, yet gentle enough to let ME make a sincere conversion -- not be forced along from the power of her will.

You don't want to raise humanly insurmountable obstacles to someone embracing (or re-embracing) the Catholic Faith.

You gain more flies with an ounce of honey than with a gallon of vinegar, as St. Francis said.

In Christ,

Matthew