Give warning

The words of today’s first reading (Ezekiel 33:7-9) are stark and challenging:

You, son of man,
I have appointed watchman for the house of Israel;
when you hear me say anything,
you shall warn them for me.

If I tell the wicked,
“O wicked one, you shall surely die, ”
and you do not speak out
to dissuade the wicked from his way,
the wicked shall die for his guilt,
but I will hold you responsible for his death.

But if you warn the wicked,
trying to turn him from his way,
and he refuses to turn from his way,
he shall die for his guilt,
but you shall save yourself.

From politicians who support evil while making a show of morality and fidelity to friends and neighbors stumbling down paths of deadly sin, we are surrounded by opportunities to give the warnings God commands us to give.

Many of us miss the mark: sometimes our warnings are so clumsy as to be useless or even counterproductive; sometimes we fail to say anything at all.

We need to be humble because of our own sinfulness, but we need to be earnest, prudent, thoughtful, compassionate, and faithful in giving warnings that we and others need to hear.