How Important It Is to Take Correction and Admonition Well

PHILOSOPHER here gives a very good piece of advice, such that it would seem nothing more could be asked for in this matter. That philosopher is Galen, who, not content with writing maxims for the cure of bodies, has also written a book how to know and cure the ailments of the soul. There this philosopher says: Anyone who wishes to amend his faults and make progress in virtue, should seek out a good and prudent man to warn him of them; and if he finds a proper person for that purpose, he should call him aside and ask him very earnestly to do him the favor of admonishing him of all the faults that he observes in him, offering and promising to be very grateful for it and to take him for a true friend; telling him that hereby he will do him a greater favor and benefit than if he cured him of some ailment of the body, inasmuch as the soul is more than the body. And if the other undertakes this office, and says that he will do so, and afterwards some days pass without his admonishing him of anything, complain to him, he says, and ask him once more, more earnestly than you did the first time, not to do so, but admonish you at once when he sees you in any fault. And if he answers you that he certainly has not been unmindful of his promise, but that all this time there has been nothing in you that deserved unfavorable notice, do not believe him at all, but make up your mind that the reason of his not having admonished you has not been that there have been no faults giving ground for admonition, but one of three things. Either through negligence and carelessness on his part he has taken no account of your defects and forgotten all about it—for there are very few who will take such care and charge themselves in this manner with your improvement; or in the second place, if he has observed and noticed any faults in you, as possibly he may have noticed some, understand that he has failed to tell you out of shyness and bashfulness, and because he did not want to get out of your good graces and lose your friendship, knowing that that is what comes of telling truths nowadays; or thirdly, because perhaps on one occasion he saw that you did not take well the correction and admonition he gave you, and therefore (notwithstanding all that you had said) he could not believe that you were in earnest in your desire of being corrected and admonished, since he attached more faith to deeds than to words. He goes on to say: “Even though sometimes the matter on which your friend admonishes you is not so, or is not so great as he says, still take care not to disavow it or excuse it; in the first place, because it may be that your friend is a shrewder observer than you are, for it is much easier to see another’s faults than one’s own; secondly, because, even though the case was not as stated, still it will do you good to be more cautious and better on your guard as to your behavior, and more careful henceforth to give no occasion for the like mistakes.”

All this is said by that philosopher, and all of it is necessary if we are to find anyone who will cheerfully do us this kindness. There is great difficulty in doing it, as anyone may see for himself, not only on the side of the person corrected, being so sensitive to correction and rebuke, but also on the side of the giver of the correction, when he is commissioned to admonish others to correct some fault that they have got. Even to the superior himself this is one of his greatest troubles when there is scant virtue and humility in his subjects. On the one hand he feels obliged to correct them by reason of his office, and on the other he is afraid that they cannot but resent the correction and admonition. He goes about it as though he had to give them the cautery, all in a perspiration himself, and sometimes in perplexity as to whether he shall mention the thing or leave it alone. Now he thinks it will be well to mention it, watching for some good opportunity and favorable conjuncture, and employing some manner of salve and sugary words to diminish the bitterness of the reproof. Another time he experiences such difficulty on the part of the subject that he thinks it better to leave the thing unmentioned, although the fault is there. He is afraid that the mention of it will do more harm than good, and will serve for nothing but to inflame the wound and make things still more unpleasant, one possible result being that the offender henceforth will do his office or ministry with less liking and less ease than before. The sun softens and melts wax, but dries and hardens mud. When plants have taken firm root in the soil, air and sun help to make them grow and fructify; but if they are not well rooted, these same agencies and influences dry them up and make them rot the sooner. On this motive superiors cease to admonish some of their subjects of their defects, because they get worse under treatment and turn their medicine into poison. They fancy that to be spite and aversion and ill will, which is really love and desire of their good, and so they deserve to be left alone.

If, then, you do not want to be given up as incorrigible and incurable, you must take admonition and correction very well. How good it is, on being rebuked, to show repentance! (Ecclus. xx. 4). How good it is, and how well it looks, on being corrected and admonished of one’s fault, to recognize it and show regret for it and purpose of amendment! And though on some occasion you have not committed the fault that they admonish you of, or it has not been in that manner or so great as that, you should not show it, but thank your admonitor for his good will and the good turn he does you, and promise him amendment, saying that you will keep an eye on that in future, and that he has done you a great charity, for thus you will encourage him to admonish you another time; whereas, if you at once set to work excusing and defending yourself, he will not advise you another time of what perhaps it was quite necessary you should be told. There are people who, when they are admonished of any fault, at once excuse themselves; and when they cannot excuse it altogether, they look for reasons to diminish and make less of it, showing that it was not so bad. This is the way to shut the door against anyone’s admonishing you another time; for, as your admonitor sees that upon sundry admonitions you never have acknowledged your fault, but always find excuses to get out of it, he makes up his mind never more to speak to you of the thing. This is what you get by your excuses, or satisfactions, as you call them, that no one now will ever give you an admonition; and besides, all such behavior is disedifying and looks bad.

Even in superiors it is taken to be a great fault not to take well the admonitions and counsels given them, nor show any disposition to hear them willingly. This is so true that they say it is better to choose for government a man of less wisdom, if he is aware of his deficiencies and takes well the admonitions and counsels of the wise, than another who knows more, and is very confident in himself, thinking that he knows all about it, and having no taste for admonitions nor any readiness to take in good part the advice given him. Scripture is full of this topic, especially the Sapiential Books. Hast thou seen a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him (Prov. xxvi. 12). The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but the wise man takes counsel of another (Prov. xii. 15). I, wisdom, dwell in counsel (Prov. viii. 12). In abundance of counsel there is prosperity (Prov. xi. 14). And one of the conditions that the Apostle St. James lays down of the wisdom that descends from heaven, is that it is not contentious nor obstinate, but peaceful and open to persuasion (James iii. 17). Now, if it is a praiseworthy thing in superiors willingly to hear the admonition and advice of private persons, and the opposite course is blameworthy and reprehensible, with how much greater reason are inferiors open to reprehension, when they take not well advice and correction even from superiors!

That we may set more store by this and animate ourselves more to it, it is well that we should understand and consider one great advantage there is in it. It is that, when the subject takes admonition and correction well, and the superior is satisfied on that point, faults give the superior little concern, because if they are seen, the remedy is seen along with them. But when this is not the case, the door is seen to be shut against the requisite remedy. These are the distresses and anxieties of superiors. Thus it is a good plan for one in private station to tell the superior of the readiness and desire that he has of being admonished, and to beg him in all earnestness as a father to correct and admonish him with clearness and plainness of all his shortcomings; and not to mind if on some occasion possibly he has resented correction as a man and not taken it as well as he should. And he should not be satisfied with making this request once for all, or saying the thing as a formality, but he should do it time after time and with great earnestness. Make sure that all this importunity is necessary to get yourself believed, and have this service rendered you well and carefully, as the difficulty of it requires. Thus, though in other things we should rejoice at being taken for imperfect men and unmortified, since there are plenty of things in which we are such, yet in this you should not allow, or give occasion for the superior to think of you, that you are so proud or so unmortified as not to take well the correction or warning that he may give you; rather, try to let him be quite satisfied on this point, that you may not be deprived of so great a benefit and such a principal means of your improvement.

St. Basil says: “As the sick man, desirous and anxious for the recovery of his health, takes in good part the treatment that the doctor gives him, though it be rough and hard, and is not angry with his physician, nor harbors the thought that he means any mischief in treating him so; so the humble man, desirous in good earnest of his spiritual improvement, takes correction and admonition in good part, without thinking for a moment that it is done out of ill-will or passion.” If for the recovery of bodily health we willingly take very bitter medicines, and permit the physician or surgeon to cut and burn where he pleases, and we are grateful for it and take it for a great boon, so it will be reasonable, says St. Basil, that we should do the same for the spiritual health of our soul and the general good of all our order, even though the treatment and correction be rough and hard.