How Do You Love Sinners Instead of Rebuking Them?

The two can—and should—go hand in hand. One of the spiritual works of mercy is admonishing the sinner, and this should be done out of true love. “Admonish” is less of a harsh word, though “rebuke” need not exclude genuine love.

In short, we can and should correct sinners out of love for them and the harm sin can do in their lives and those of others, and yet we should continue to interact with them in love if they don’t immediately repent. Sometimes people can take awhile to have a major conversion, and so we want to support them throughout that process, while never condoning, let alone participating in, their wrongdoing.

Finally, learning from St. Thomas Aquinas, fraternal correction should be brief, charitable and rare, meaning that people should really see that we love them holistically and do not want simply to correct them regarding their sin.