"The wolf catcheth and scattereth the
sheep." - (John 10:12)
The wolves that catch and scatter the sheep of
Jesus Christ, are the authors of scandal, who, not content with their own
destruction, labor to destroy others. But the Lord says: "Woe to that man
by whom the scandal cometh" (Matt. 18:7). Woe to him who gives scandal,
and causes others to lose the grace of God. Origen says, that "a person
who impels another to sin, sins more grievously than the other." If,
brethren, there be any among you who has given scandal, I will endeavor this
day to convince him of the evil he has done, that he may bewail it, and guard
against it for the future. I will show, in the first point, the great
displeasure which the sin of scandal gives to God; and, in the second, the
great punishment which God threatens to inflict on the authors of scandal.
First point. On the great displeasure which the
sin of scandal gives to God.
It is, in the first place, necessary to explain
what is meant by scandal. Behold how St. Thomas defines it: "Scandal is a
word or act which gives occasion to the spiritual ruin of one's neighbor."
(2, ii. q. 45, art. 1.) Scandal, then, is a word or act by which you are to
your neighbor the cause or occasion of losing his soul. It may be direct or
indirect. It is direct, when you directly tempt and induce another to commit
sin. It is indirect, when, although you foresee that sinful words or actions
will be the cause of sin to another, you do not abstain from them. But,
scandal, whether it be direct or indirect, if it be in a matter of great
moment, is always a mortal sin.
Let us now see the great displeasure which the
destruction of a neighbor's soul gives to God. To understand it, we must
consider how dear every soul is to God. He has created the souls of all men to
his own image. "Let us make man to our image and likeness" (Gen.
1:26). Other creatures God as made by a fiat - by an act of his will; but the
soul of man he has created by his own breath. "And the Lord breathed into
his face the breath of life" (Gen. 2:7). The soul of your neighbor God has
loved for eternity. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love"
(Jer. 31:3). He has, moreover, created every soul to be a queen in Paradise,
and to be a partner in His glory. "That by these you may be made partakers
of the divine nature" (II Peter 1:4). In Heaven He will make the souls of
the saints to be partakers of His own joy. "Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord" (Matt. 25:21). To them He shall give Himself as their reward.
"I am thy reward exceeding great" (Gen.
15:1).
But nothing can show the value which God sets on
the souls of men, more clearly than what the Incarnate Word has done for their
redemption from sin and Hell. "If," says St. Eucharius, "you do
not believe your Creator, ask your Redeemer how precious you are."
Speaking of the care which we ought to have of our brethren, St. Ambrose says:
"The great value of the salvation of a brother is known from the death of
Christ." We judge of the value of everything by the price paid for it by
an intelligent purchaser. Now, Jesus Christ has, according to the Apostle,
purchased the souls of men with His own Blood. "You are bought with a
great price" (1 Cor. 6:20). We can then say, that the soul is of as much
value as the Blood of a God. Such, indeed, is the language of St. Hilary.
"Tam copioso munere redemptio agitur, ut homo Deum valere videatur"
(So plentiful a redemption was given, that man might seem to be worth God.)
Hence, the Savior tells us, that whatsoever good or evil we do to the least of
His brethren, we do to Himself. "So long as you did it to one of these My
least brethren, you did it to Me" (Matt. 25:40).
From all this we may infer how great is the
displeasure given to God by scandalizing a brother and destroying his soul. It
is enough to say, that they who give scandal rob God of a child, and murder a
soul, for whose salvation He has spent His blood and His life. Hence, St. Leo
calls the authors of scandal murderers. "Quisquis scandilizat, mortem
infert animae proximi" (whosoever scandalizes, brings the soul of his
neighbor to death). They are the most impious of murderers; because they kill
not the body, but the soul, of a brother, and rob Jesus Christ of all His
tears, of His sorrows, and of all that He has done and suffered to gain that
soul. Hence the Apostle says: "Now, when you sin thus against the
brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ" (1 Cor.
8:12). They who scandalize a brother, sin against Christ; because, as St.
Ambrose says, they deprive Him of a soul for which He has spent so many years,
and submitted to so many toils and labors. It is related, that St. Albertus
Magnus spent thirty years in making a head, which resembled the human head, and
uttered words; and that St. Thomas, fearing that it was done by the agency of
the Devil, took the head and broke it. St. Albertus complained of the act of
St. Thomas, saying: "You have broken on me the work of thirty years."
I do not assert that this is true; but it is certain that, when Jesus Christ
sees a soul destroyed by scandal, He can reprove the author of it, and say to
him: "Wicked wretch, what have you done? You have deprived me of this
soul, for which I have labored thirty-three years."
Be careful, then, never again to give the smallest
scandal. And if you wish to save your soul, avoid as much as possible those who
give scandal. These incarnate devils shall be damned; but, if you do not avoid
them, you will bring yourself to perdition. "Woe to the world because of
scandals," says the Lord (Matt. 18:7). That is, many are lost because they
do not fly from occasions of scandal. But you may say: Such a person is my
friend; I am under obligations to him; I expect many favors from him. But Jesus
Christ says: "If thy right eye scandalize thee, pluck it out and cast it
from thee. It is better for thee, having one eye, to enter into life, than,
having two eyes, to be cast into Hell fire" (Matt. 18:9). Although a
certain person was your right eye, you must withdraw forever from her; it is
better for you to lose an eye and save your soul, than to preserve it and be
cast into Hell.
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