do not lead others to temptation
we must be careful never to trouble the conscience of others, watching carefully that we do not lead them from good. Sympathy may not be the best counsellor. For example, to reassure someone one will be tempted to lessen the failings of which he is accusing himself, “You acted in good faith . . . . God forgives you for your intentions”. But, by taking away from a guilty person the motives which brought about his repentance, at the same time one robs him of the stimulus that would be most active in raising him up again. Or else in order to encourage someone, you exaggerate the quality of his work, and hide imperfections from him that he could easily avoid without bother; you assure him that he has done his duty quite well, much more than many others and that God is not as demanding as he thinks. For these pretended encouragements have as their result a diminishing of our courage, a lessening of our ideal, and they make us slide towards mediocrity.