Day 298: Respect for Others (2284-2287)

• It’s Day 298!!

• RESPECT FOR THE DIGNITY OF PERSONS

• A reminder that these last 7 Commandments are based on the dignity of the human person

• RESPECT FOR THE SOULS OF OTHERS: SCANDAL

• It’s one thing to end the physical life of someone

• It’s another thing to lead them into sin

• By our counsel we could lead someone away from the Lord and that their soul would be lost to God forever

• That is the sin of SCANDAL

• We are called to respect the souls of others, not just their physical life but also their spiritual life

• We can look at ourselves and say, “Oh my goodness, Lord. Where have I led someone to sin? Is there anyone who has been led away from you because of my example, because of my teaching, because of what I have done or said?”

• Sometimes, that kind of self-condemnation can be a heavy and difficult weight to bear

• We will ask the Lord to bring us truth and to fill us with His grace so that we can hear the truth without self-condemnation and with the conviction of the Holy Spirit

• If we need to repent of this, we can repent of this fully without that self-condemnation, without the voice of the Accuser accusing us and leaving us in despair

• “Ok God, convict me where I need to be convicted not only of my sin but also of your mercy and ability to heal, your ability to make us whole again,”

• Let’s pray!!

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven, we call upon the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, and ask you to send us your Holy Spirit to convict our hearts in the truth and to convict our hearts in the truth, not only of sin, but also of grace. Not only of our weakness and brokenness, but also of your healing and your power to redeem. Lord God, if we are guilty of the sin of scandal that because of our choices, because of our example, because of our words, we have led others away from you, or led others away from your truth that we have not borne witness to you, in truth and in love, we repent of that, and we ask that you please help those people, help those people that we have led away. Help them now. Bring them home. Lord God, in spite of us, but because of your love, bring them home. Bring them back to you. Lord God, let our tears at being the cause of scandal, let our sorrow at being the cause of scandal touch your Sacred Heart and move your Sacred Heart to bring them back to you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”

• So there we have it!!

• These are difficult words but good words for us to hear

• There are ways in which we can hurt another’s physical life

• There are also ways in which we can do damage to another’s soul

• Paragraph 2284 says, “Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.”

• St. James said, “Not many of you should aspire to be teachers, my brethren, because you will be held to a stricter judgment.”

• If your job is to teach others and lead them to the truth and to the Lord, that is a grave responsibility

• That’s not just teachers

• Parents

• Priests

• Religious

• Anyone willing to take up the name of Christian

• We are called to be martyrs

• Let’s hear Fr. Mike recap Acts Ch 1 because I am not going to write it all down…

• Martyr means witness

• Every Christian, by their baptism, has been commissioned by the Holy Spirit, by the Church 

• How we choose to live our lives is we are bearing witness

• We are either bearing witness to the Lord, or to the world, or to ourselves

• Let’s listen to Fr. Mike talk about spending the night together before being married…

• So what is scandal?

• Scandal is calling good evil and evil good

• Let’s listen to another Fr. Mike story about going to a wedding…

• Fr. Mike led a holy person into gossip 

• I am willing to bet my right kidney that Fr. Mike is going to tell the seminary story about millstones…

• Paragraph 2285 says, “Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: ‘Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.’ Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

• Yup, I was right…so let’s listen to Fr. Mike’s seminary story about millstones…(because I knew he would tell this story again after he told it to us in Bible in a Year)

• Paragraph 2286, “Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion. Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to ‘social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible. This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.”

• We have a responsibility to the people around us, whatever our role is

• A couple of days ago we talked about abortion and how it has become the norm

• Up until a couple of decades ago, abortion was still seen as a horrible sin

• Now, what do we have?

• We have a culture that says, “Celebrate your abortion.”

• Paragraph 2287 says, “Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. ‘Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!’”

• We need to ask the Lord to guard our speech and our actions

• “God, help me to be a good and faithful witness, a true witness.”

• Because we have all been given some degree of power and influence

• So we have to use the power at disposal in such a way that it leads others to the truth and to the Lord

• St. Augustine sort of according to Fr. Mike said, “Ok, pastors those who are leading God’s people, if you do not tell the People of God the truth so that they have the opportunity to be converted and turn back to Him, then they will die in their sins, but you will be responsible for that. If you do tell the truth, if you do convict them and bring them back so they can turn their lives around and bring them back to the Lord, and they don’t, well, they might die in their sin, but then you are not guilty for that.”

• “God, if there is anyone that I have led away through word or example, led away from you, please, please, I repent, in the name of Jesus and I ask you to care for them. Bring them back to you in spite of me and because of your love.”

• Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!

• Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!

• I cannot WAIT…