Defining Scandal and Its Real Impact

I live on work on a college campus and so one of the one areas of of sin that scandal that is is really a apparent is one you might call the big three. Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz and this is the Century Presents. I remember talking to a man once, he said uh, one, of the most frightening verses in the Bible was, it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. He said, worldwide, globally speaking, I'm wealthy. Um, compared to the rest of the world, you know, here we are in America. And then he also had done pretty well financially. He's like, that's a scary line. He said, if if you could hear, if you can hear that verse in the United States in the United States of America and be in the a middle class or upper middle class, or even you know, beyond that, that should scare you. Another scary line is uh if one of you should cause one of these little ones to sin, it would it would be better for a great millstone. Jesus said this, a great millstone would be placed around his neck and he'd be cast into the se a. If you cause one of these little ones to sin. And so one of my myself, I know that this is a that's a that's a a fear with especially when it comes to teachers. I mean it comes to preaching, when it comes to representing Jesus, representing the church. This is a real fear. In fact, I remember the day, it was a moral theology with uh Professor Dr. Christopher Thompson at the St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul. And uh we went through this and he said, gentlemen, because I'll talk to a bunch of seminarians planning to be pre He said, listen, if you want to know how serious, how serious all of this is, if you if you go on to get ordained, you go on to be a representative of Jesus and his church in this world, he said, I have one word for you, and that word is millstones. If you cause one of these little ones to sin, it'd be better for a great millstone to be placed around your neck and be cast into the sea. In fact, even James, James says this. He says, Not many of you should aspire to be teachers, my brethren, because as teachers, you'll be liable to a stricter judgment. There's this that sense of like our actions have weight. And if you're going to be a Christian, your actions have weight they have significance not just for priests not just for teachers but for any Christian our actions have weight so what do we call that we call that scandal right there's this sinno scandal that I think we don't typically think about a scandal as a sin. We think of things that are scandalous. When we think of things that are scandalous, we think of we think of things that are shocking. Like that's just scandalous that that the person said this or this person acted this way. They did this certain thing. And we're just simply shocked by this. But the actual definition of scandal when it comes to the church, when it comes to Catholic faith, is scandal is an attitude or behavior that causes others to sin . So do I have an attitude? Have I taught something that causes someone else to sin? Do I have a behavior? Do I live a certain way so that other people fall into sin? And this is this is this is a real danger for every one of us. Why ? Because someone's always watching. Now, I mean I don't mean that in a way that it causes us to be parano id, but I mean that in a way of everywhere you and I go, we are a representative of something greater than ourselves. Everywhere we go, we're representative of something greater than ourselves. And so my attitude or my actions could either lead someone closer to knowledge and love of God, or they could lead someone further away from knowledge and love of God . Scandal is that attitude or behavior that causes someone else to sin. What does that mean? Well, that means like this. It means that as a Christian, I I may not simply do whatever it is I want. Not just for my own soul, but because by my actions or by my attitudes, not by my behavi ors , I may lead someone else to say that thing that's wrong is not wrong. I remember talking with a friend one at one point, uh, we had just come from a funeral of a wedding Freudian slip. We just got from a wedding. And and I was just I really wasn't content with the wedding. I really was like, I don't know if they should have gotten married. And I really didn't this this what the groom kind of rubbed me the wrong way. And and but this friend I was with was very, very holy. And I remember kind of just kind of fishing, you know, a little bit and just kind of throwing the line out there and like, I don't know that some, you know, I just some weddings you're excited about, right? And they took the bait. They took the bait and we're like, yeah, gosh, I just don't know about this couple. And when they took the bait, I was like, well, this person's really holy. This person has a really high bar when it comes to character, when it comes to ennobling speech, all these kind of things. Well they, took the ba it and now we're both gossiping about this person because they're willing to gossip. Okay, now it's okay. The initiator of the whole thing, the instigator of the whole thing was me with my my fishing line about like, you know, some weddings you're excited about, some weddings you're not, fish. But I realized that see, I had given this person permission to gossip. And then when they gossiped, I was like, well, okay, now I have permission to vent or to rant or to gossip about uh my my issues with this couple. And I realized , ah , we don't, right? That was wrong. That was wrong of me. It was wrong of me to give them kind of quote unquote permission. It was wrong of them to give me permission . But it was a situation where, okay, I feel better doing this thing that's bad, gossip. Because this person that in my heart, my mind represents Jesus and does a really great job of representing Jesus, they're willing to gossip. So in this case, it must quoteote unqu be okay, right? And that's not the case. See, scandal is not being shocked. Scandal is when my behaviors or my attitude lead someone else to sin. So I can't just say whatever I want to say. I can't just do whatever I want to do. If lead someone else to sin, I need to be really careful. I live on work on a college campus and so one of the one of the areas of of sin that scandal that is is really apparent is when it comes to um what you might call the big three. So we have focus missionaries on our campus and they have the high call that they offer to our college students. And the high call involves many things, but it involves the big three. It involves a call towards excellence. They call it involves a call towards sobriety. And involves a high call towards chastity. And so that sense of like being able to say, okay, if you want to follow Jesus, you're gonna have a call here. And the call to excellence is is this is, that is that you can't just be like a student who phones it in. Yeah, you have actually I know everyone else is doing that, but they'll see you as a Catholic Christian who's a intentional disciple of Jesus. They can't see you phone it in. They have to see you as someone who genuinely pursues excellence in academics and whatever other area of your life. That excellence you have to pursue that. Number two is sobriety. Again, because this is the thing. I know you want to go to the party just like everyone else, but you can't. You're not allowed to live just like everyone else. Why? Because if everyone else is doing evil, people are going to be looking to you as an intentional disciple of Jesus and saying, Wait, is this behavior okay? Well, Joe does it, Mary does it, then it must be fine. But as for you, as for me, if we want to be intentional disciples of Jesus, we can't just have a relationship with alcohol that the rest of the world has with alcohol. We have to be sober. We can, of course, as Catholics, we can enjoy alcohol if you're of age, but we can't abuse it, right? And third, chastity. Other people on campus, yeah, they stay overnight at their at their girlfriend or boyfriend's house. But you can't. Not just for your own soul, again, just not for your own soul, but because you're sending a message. And it could be like, well, no, I I see so-and-so. They go to daily mass even. They pray the rosary. They go to Sunday Mass. They're leading a Bible study. It's okay if they stay the night . Scandal is an attitude or behavior that leads someone else to sin. And so when we extend this high call to the students, if you're going to be a disciple of Jesus, here's just three areas: excellence, sobriety, and chastity. It's not just for their own souls. It's not just for their own relationship with Jesus. It goes back all the way to what Jesus had said. If one of you would cause one of these little ones to sin, it'd be better for you. Better than a millstone placed around your neck and cast great millstone and cast into the sea. But I don't want that. I didn't sign up for that. I didn't sign up to be a poster boy or poster girl for for Christianity. Yeah, but if you are a disciple of Jesus, that means your faith has to be in some way public . Jesus even said, You're the salt of the earth. You're the light of the world . No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel basket. It's lit to give light to everyone in the room. And if you and I want to follow the Lord, then that means our good deeds must be seen so people can glorify the Lord. And if our good deeds must be seen so people can glorify the Lord, it means they also may see our evil deeds . And so we have to do whatever we can to eradicate them. Of course, we're not perfect. No one's perfect. No one's gonna live a life without reproach. But we want to strive after that. We want to actually be afraid. There are some words in the Bible to fear . Easier for a camel to pass through eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And anyone who causes one of these little ones to sin, better for them if a great millstone was placed around their neck and they're cast into the sea. And you might say, I don't want that. Response is I am really sorry . But as a disciple of Jesus, that's the call . You're a witness . Jesus, when he sent out the apost les, he said, You'll be my witness es. In our lives, give witness to something . If we're Christians, they have to give witness to a life of virtue. They have to give witness to a life of holiness. They have to give give witness to the life of Christ. It's one of the reasons why there's a there's a line, I think it's in the Psalms , where it's just uh beseeching the Lord. And I it just strikes me again and again. I, whenever we pray it, I just like, God, please let this be true. Let no one who trusts in you stumble because of me. That's my prayer on a regular basis. Lord God, let no one who belongs to you stumble because of me. Because I'll tell you this. Um , it probably it's probably no uh mystery or no great revelation that I am a broken human being. I'm a human being who has to go to confession. And the reason we have to go to confession is for sin . There are things that I can choose to do that would be scandalous . So I'm not perfect, which means I need God's grace, which means I go back to that time of prayer again and again and say, okay, God, let no one who trusts in you fall away because of me. Let no one who trusts in you stumble because of me . None of us can do this on our own. It is always a gift of God's grace. But this has to be part of what we strive after. Knowing that whether you like it or not, you're a billboard for the Lord, saying this is how Christians live. Whether we live up to it or not is another question. Jesus said , You will be my witnesses . So what are we witnessing to ? Are we witnessing to the way the world works or are we witnessing to the truth, the love, the goodness, the beauty of Jesus Christ. You're a billboard . You're a witness. You're a light of the world . Be a billboard. Be a witness. Be the light of the world for Jesus. Anyways, from all this here to Sanch Presents, my name is Father Mike. God bless