When I was a student in a seminary I had a very enlightening experience. You have to know that Polish seminaries are full of young men. There were more than one hundred in my seminary.

 We had a very nice custom to meet in a small group and to drink coffee or tea between breakfast and lectures. Usually somebody invited a few friends to his room. In the first two or three years of study I sometimes got into strange situations: nobody invited me and nobody wanted to get my invitation. I found myself alone. Finally the answer came to me, why these things had happened. The answer was simple. When I became unbearable and spiteful, my friends started to avoid me. Worse still I wasn’t one who was happy to listen to any criticism. But I had to teach myself very quickly, that if I want to have real friends I have to be ready to listen to remarks and to improve myself. I taught myself that real help for me is kind criticism from my friends. The person I have become, I must thank my friends for this, because they weren’t afraid to tell me the truth despite my anger.

I was reminded of this, when I thought about today’s readings. My attention was caught by the command given to the prophet Ezekiel: “I have appointed you as sentry to the House of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, warn them in my name”. The biblical term “a prophet” indicates a person, whose duty is to listen to God’s words, to muse over them and finally to pass on them to the people. He ought to teach the people about God’s will, not his own.

Sometimes we have to correct people, to indicate their attitude or behaviour is inappropriate. What induces us to do this? Too often it’s our anger, fury, annoyance. Then we approach people in the wrong state of mind. What’s the reaction of the other persons? Fear or aggression, but very rarely an improvement. It happens because the approached person feels attacked, not loved. The only real reason should be love. If I feel loved, I will try to change myself.

So, today’s readings lead us to change the way we want to correct others. The first step is to think carefully about what exactly the problem is. Next step is to try to understand, why somebody behaves incorrectly or badly. The last step is to find a suitable moment to talk to them about it in peace and love. And one, final point: we need to get used to the idea that the person we talk to might reject our opinion. To learn how to accept unpleasant comments takes time. But if we love, we can wait patiently. Like God waits for the change in us.