There are many themes we hear in today's Gospel, taken from Luke 17, there's the theme of scandal, that of forgiveness, and that of faith. For this reflection, we'll just look at the first one, that of scandal.
Our Lord says, "Things that cause scandal will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. 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." Luke 17:1-2.
Things that cause sin, there in the original text, it's all one word, it's the Greek word skandalon, it's where we get the word scandal from. The Hebrew word means a noose or a snare. So you can think of an image of a trap with a springing device that kind of ensnares the unsuspecting victim.
The Catechism at number 2284 says that, "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, meaning mortal sin or perhaps damnation. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense," unquote, says the Catechism.
An Orthodox commentator on this passage from the Gospels says that the stumbling block that Jesus is referring to is the temptation to apostatize. So the temptation to abandon the Christian faith because of the bad behavior of other believers.
Medieval commentator Theophylact says that the offenses Jesus speaks of are anything that is a hindrance to a good life and that which is pleasing to God. Essentially, any public sin that I commit, so drunkenness, even foul language, just for example, or any good that I must do but that I refuse to do, going to Mass on Sunday, for a simple example. If my sin encourages others to sin, it's a sin of scandal.
The gravity of the scandal depends on the nature of the sin and the circumstances as well. The scandalous action could even be evil in itself or just sometimes evil in appearance too.
Why, for example, should two unmarried people, a man and a woman, why should they not rent a single hotel room even if they have no intention of committing sinful acts? One of the reasons is because of the appearance of the thing could cause scandal.
Scandal is also tied to imprudence, to being imprudent, being inconsiderate of those around me.
St. Peter Chrysologus in his commentary says that a scandal tempts the saints, fatigues the cautious, throws down the incautious, disturbs all things, and confuses all people. But he also adds that Jesus is talking here about the scandal of His passion.
Theophylact again speaks of the Pharisees hindering the preaching of Christ in the gospel as their scandal.
Are there other examples of scandal? Well, a member of the clergy, priest, deacon, bishop, who preaches against what the Church teaches, obviously commits scandal.
Lawmakers who enact and support laws that corrupt the morals of society and are contrary to Church teaching like euthanasia, abortion, contraception, gay marriage, transgenderism, or even in vitro fertilization, those people commit sins of scandal because they lead other people to think that those sins are good or at least okay.
Business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers unjustly provoking children to anger, media influencers and journalists who manipulate public opinion to turn people away from moral values and from what is true, these people commit sins of scandal.
Even dressing immodestly and seductively can be a sin of scandal if it easily arouses lust in other people's hearts.
Something that a number of Catholics also don't seem to grasp is that constantly criticizing the Church and the Vatican and the Pope and the hierarchy for the things that they say, for the decisions that they make, for the things that they do, that's actually often a cause of scandal, easily a sin of scandal.
You think you're building the Church up, but the complaining and the criticisms and the prideful attitudes of defiance are actually tearing the Church down and giving others a great excuse to either leave the Church or just not become Catholic at all. Why would I want to become like that?
When we constantly criticize and focus on the negative and say to ourselves, well, I'm right, I'm right, someone probably needs to say to us, you know what, you might be right, but you're not Christ-like. You can be right and not be Christ-like at the same time, believe it or not.
If your words, attitudes, and actions are not virtuous, and if you're not respectful towards your mother, the Church, you are not being Christ-like.
The reason that St. Francis of Assisi is St. Francis of Assisi and not just Francis of Assisi is because in his walk of faith, he didn't focus on the corruption or the problems in the Church, which there were plenty of in his day, rather he focused on His Savior, on Christ, and he focused on reforming himself. That's why St. Francis is St. Francis.
Our Lord says that scandals can be the cause of little ones sinning, Luke 17:2. The word is scandalizzo, again, little ones being scandalized or stumbling.
Little ones there refers to children, yes, but also to anyone who's new in the faith or who's weak in their faith or just not mature in their faith.
So if we deliberately cause scandal, we are hurting our Lord and His children.
He says it would be better for a millstone to be put around your neck and to be thrown into the sea than to cause that, Luke 17:2.
A millstone, if you've ever seen a picture of one of those, it's like a large stone donut. It's got a huge hole in the center. You can fit your head in that hole in the center. It was used for grinding grain and pressing olives, so it was quite heavy, quite a graphic image our Lord is giving to us.
Better a horrible death than an eternal death is what Jesus is warning about in that illustration.
So we need to be attentive regarding the witness that we give to others, not overly scrupulous or fearful, just attentive.
We can ask Our Lady to help us to be aware if there are any activities or any choices in our life which are a cause of scandal to others and ask her for the grace to know how to navigate those situations or what the best course of action would be so that we will not be a hindrance to others in their spiritual journey.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.