Mutual love, to which we are indebted to one another, is also expressed in that fraternal correction with which we take on the commitment entrusted to us by the Lord to watch over, as sentinels, the life of those who live next to us. Since the fratricide of Cain, the Lord has asked us to be guardians of the other (cf. Gen 4: 9) and a concrete way to do this is to “win over the brother”, helping him to free himself from his errors and sins. This verb “to earn” is beautiful. Last Sunday we heard him about the following: one must not worry about gaining the whole world, but be willing to lose one’s life to find it. Another way to earn a life is to worry about the good of the brother, because the happy fulfillment of my existence also depends on the care with which I guard the life of the other. There is also a close relationship that Jesus places between fraternal correction and unanimous prayer: it is necessary to agree “to ask for anything”, and above all to ask for the healing of the brother. If he can not listen to the word of correction that is gradually addressed to him, the Father always listens to the unanimous prayer of the community. Someone’s sin always risks breaking up communion. On the contrary, Jesus asks us to react to you not only with correction and prayer, but also with a more tenacious and persevering communion of all that can hurt it.

Commentary by Comunità di Dumenza

Translation by f. Mark Hargreaves, Prinknash Abbey