Friday of the Thirty-third Week in Ordinary Time

Today's Mass Readings

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us of the remarkable gravity of the sin of scandal when he says: “It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.”

When we scandalize another—that is we become an occasion of sin for them—we are saying that our personal preference and pleasure are more important than the salvation of poor souls who are not spiritually strong. Take the immodesty of dress, for instance. If I dress immodestly around others, I am essentially saying that how I want to appear at this very moment is more important than the eternal salvation of my neighbor’s soul: “A moment of personal pleasure for me is more important than eternal judgment for you.”

Nowadays, a common response to this is to claim innocence, saying that my neighbors do not have to look at me or follow my example: “They do not have to sin because of me, they chose it for themselves.” In a sense, it is as if when we give scandal we are saying: “They are not my responsibility,” but that sounds an awful lot like someone else in the Bible. When God asked Cain where his brother Abel was in the book of Genesis, Cain answered: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” It seems like God answered Cain with the words of Jesus Christ, several thousand years later. “Yes, Cain, you are your brother’s keeper.”

And likewise, we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers. It is our responsibility to do our best to protect their souls so that they and we can enter into heaven, and woe to those who do not.

Reflection by Robert, seminarian

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