Loved Forever: A Guide to Living the Year of Mercy
Mercy: the bridge that connects God and man, opening our hearts to the hope of
being loved forever despite our sinfulness (Pope Francis).
Admonishing Sinners
Issue 4
The third spiritual work of
mercy is to admonish sinners. This work of mercy is
unpopular because the culture emphasizes a need to
respect others’ lifestyle
choices, even if it is a lifestyle of sin. This form of
toleration is considered
“love”, and the absence of
it is called “hate”.
Contrasting the culture’s
idea of “love”, the very
word “admonish” means to
caution someone against
something in a good-willed
manner. Christians that admonish sinners, like God,
desire the salvation of all (1
Timothy 2:4), and don’t
want any sinner to be in
jeopardy of losing their
soul forever because Christians did not say anything
to warn them of the danger
they were in.
The spiritual work of admonishing sinners is pure
charity. It is uncomfortable
for the Christian who acts
on it and opens them up for
abuse and rejection. As St.
Francis of Assisi commented, however, nothing
should take precedence
over the work of the salvation of souls. If Christians
actually care about others,
Admonishing Sinners
Mission Statement for This
Issue:
 Helping all Catholics, especially families, find ways to understand and live
the Spiritual Work of Mercy of
“Admonishing Sinners” in their day to
day life.
they will do something to
prevent their souls being
lost. To say nothing is to
watch brothers and sisters,
friends and neighbors,
choose hell over God. To
tolerate their actions is not
to love them.
In his discourse on the topic, Fr. Andrew Apostoli,
CFR, notes that there are
many ways to admonish
sinners. The main purpose
of this spiritual work is to
call the sinner to conversion, to a life lived in the
joy of having chosen Christ.
One of the ways to admonish people is to give a testimony of how Christ has
changed your life. Other
ways might include refusing to cooperate in sin, reminding someone gently of
the moral danger their soul
is in, cautioning someone to
correct specific faults in
their moral life, and encouraging someone in their
struggle to break away
from a life of sin.
In acting with this spiritual
work, Christians are having
mercy on those around
them by giving them a
chance to wake up and
amend their lives.
When a Christian enters
this sort of conversation, he
or she must remember to
not try to “win the argument” but to love the person with whom they are
speaking into changing
their ways for Jesus Christ.
The person’s soul is always
the goal, so one must make
sure speaking up at a certain time is what will be the
Inside this issue:
About Admonishing Sinners
1
Ideas for Acting with Mercy
2
Ideas for Talking about Mercy
3
Excerpt from Misericordiae vultus 4
Pray It!
4
most effective, when a person
would be most open.
One final note: Anything that is
said to others will be received
badly if not said a) prudently
and in love, and b) with the
example of a life lived in
Christ. The lack of these two
things make any message powerless.
Loved Forever: A Guide to Living the Year of Mercy
Page 2
Go For It: Some Activity Ideas for Living Out “Admonishing Sinners”
Role Players
One day, Steve found his sister Barbara picking all of the neighbors’ special
flowers, the ones that keep their house
safe from meteor showers. He knows
Barbara will get in big trouble if their
parents find out, and that if she keeps
doing it, their neighbor’s house could
be destroyed, and they would have to
move to Pluto, the farthest place possible from the Sun. He must talk to her
about stopping what she is doing. Act
out the situation and the conversation
between Barbara and Steve, or other
similar situation. Then act out what
would have happened if Steve hadn’t
talked to Barbara and she kept picking the flowers, with all of the crazy
consequences. Which would you rather happen?
Roles:
 Barbara
 Steve
 Any amount of neighbors
 Parents
 Flowers
 Rocket to Pluto
Rule Book
Objective: Create an incentive for
practicing the action of admonishing
sinners in a fun setting.
Make a list of wacky rules for the day,
and weird punishments for breaking
them. For example, “If anyone forgets
to scream when the doorbell rings,
they’ll have to do five push-ups.” The
rules should be fun, and not too diffi-
cult, and the punishments should not
be too bad, but not fun enough that
people break the rules on purpose.
Create a prize each family member
will get if they don’t break the rules all
day. Have family members encourage
and remind each other of the rules all
day to make sure everyone gets the
prize at the end.
In Action
As a small group:

Pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance.

Talk together about who the
group, or individuals in the group,
knows who is trapped in sin. It
could be family members or
friends.

Seriously consider if God is call-
ing you to say something to
them, even if it may be uncomfortable for you or them.

Create accountability partners
in the group to encourage you to
do it.
“No one hated sin more than
Jesus, and yet no one loved
sinners more than Jesus
either” (Fr. Andrew Apostoli,
CFR)
Issue 4
Page 3
Talk About It: Discussion Starters for “Admonishing Sinners”
confession with Padre Pio and came
back amazed, saying that the holy
priest knew and had told him his entire life. It was a beautiful conversion.
All the Saints!
Padre Pio lived in the century just before ours. He was a priest in Italy. Because of a special gift of God, he very
often had knowledge of people’s sins
when he talked to them. Once a man
came to him to ask if he could heal his
sick daughter. Padre Pio said to him,
“You are sicker than your daughter. I
see you dead.” The man replied that
he was well, not sick. Padre Pio said,
“How are you well with so many sins
on your soul?” The man then went to

What do you like about this story?

What do you think motivated Padre Pio to talk to the man about his
sins? (Lots of possibilities, but
eventually: he wanted him to go to
heaven)

How can you be more like Padre
Pio in caring about sinners?
Jesus Says . . .
Read John 2:13-22, about Jesus clearing the moneychangers out of the
Temple.

Why did Jesus clear everyone out
of the Temple?

Was it bad that he got angry? No:
anger can be good as long as it is
controlled and directed at an injustice, like making worshipping God
into a business

How is this an example of admonishing sinners? Do you think Jesus
was caring for the salvation of
everyone in the Temple when he
did this? Why?

Can you think of other examples
when Jesus admonished sinners?
Any story that ends with Jesus saying: Go and sin no more.

Why is the work of admonishing
sinners so hard?

Are sinners bad? No: their actions
are

Can I think of a time when I was
admonished and it was helpful?
Unhelpful? How can I learn from
those experiences?
Stop making my Father’s house
a marketplace! (John 2: 16)
Application

Why is it good for others to correct my behavior when I’m sinning?

Am I willing to help others in the
same way? Why or why not?

What are some examples of when
I should say something to someone who is sinning and when I
shouldn’t?
Caption describing picture or graphic.
Loved Forever: A Guide to Living the Year of Mercy
“Human beings, whenever they judge, look no farther than
Office of Marriage, Family, and Youth,
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Bishop Hammes
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the surface, whereas the Father looks into the very depths of
the soul. How much harm words do when they are motivated
by feelings of jealousy and envy! To speak ill of others puts
them in a bad light, undermines their reputation and leaves
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them prey to the whims of gossip. To refrain from judgement and condemnation means, in a positive sense, to know
how to accept the good in every person and to spare him
any suffering that might be caused by our partial judgment,
our presumption to know everything about him. But this is
still not sufficient to express mercy. Jesus asks us also to forgive and to give. To be instruments of mercy because it was
we who first received mercy from God. To be generous with
others, knowing that God showers his goodness upon us
with immense generosity ” (Pope Francis, Misericordiae vultus, 4).
Pray It!
Meditate!
Dear Jesus,
I am concerned for the salvation of the
soul of (Insert name here). Please
send the Holy Spirit to guide (him/her)
to everlasting life with you. Please
help me to speak with (him/her) if you
are calling me to, if that is what you
want in your perfect plan for humanity
in order to save (Name). Tell me what
to say. Help me to love (him/her)
enough to not stay silent. I love you
Jesus, and I am concerned for the salvation of souls because you are.
I ask this through my mother. Hail
Mary…
Amen.
Close your eyes and imagine
yourself with Jesus. Have a conversation. Express your joys,
frustrations, sorrows, and
thanks. Give him your heart.
Watch as he points out all the
good parts of your heart. He
created you good. Then watch
as he points out the parts that
are still in the darkness of sin.
Let him admonish you to give
these parts to him in a special
way. Say a prayer of repentance
from these ways into the person
he created you to be.