To Correct the Sinner is a Work of Mercy

We should bear in mind that the works of mercy with which we practice that virtue are both corporal (to give alms, visit the sick, etc.) and spiritual (teach the ignorant, give good advice, admonish sinners, pray for the deceased, etc.).

Although both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are necessary and important, Saint Thomas, following Church tradition, considers the spiritual works of mercy superior to the
corporal ones, as they are more directly related to
eternal salvation.

Of these spiritual works of mercy, to admonish sinners is very important “because thereby we drive out our brother’s evil, namely sin, the removal of which pertains to charity rather than the removal of an external loss, or of a bodily injury, in so much as the contrary good of virtue is more akin to charity than the good of the body or of external things.”