"It must needs be that scandals come; but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh."-----MATT. 18, 7

   By scandal is meant in Scripture whatever may cause our neighbor to fall in the way of virtue by offending God. It is a frightful sentence of Our Savior when He pronounced the commission of this sin so easy, and yet its judgments so severe. "It must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless, woe to that man by whom scandal cometh." How strong, then, must be the impression of scandal! The greatest good we can do to our neighbor is to contribute to his salvation, and there is no more efficacious means of aiding his soul than good example. "Woe then to him who instead of edifying his brethren is a stumbling block to them!" A sin then, which is denounced in such strong terms of reprobation by our Lord must have a peculiar malignity about it: and, therefore, the opposite virtue must have a peculiar grace and influence. It is an unquestioned fact that good or bad example exercises an almost unlimited sway over the minds of men. It exercises its influence over the educated and uneducated alike. It is a matter of daily experience in the higher and lower circles of society. And this is a most important matter; for it clearly shows that each one of us has it in his power to benefit, or to harm his neighbor, to be the occasion of the salvation or the ruin of souls. It teaches us that each one can become a powerful champion or a dangerous enemy of his Church. He may assist her in the glorious work of saving souls, and he may render her efforts useless. If the bright light of his example shines before men they will see her good works; but if he lead a scandalous life, he will confirm men in their prejudice against the Church, and paralyze her efforts for the salvation of souls. His brother will live and die in unbelief and that bad Catholic is responsible before God for the loss of that immortal soul.

   The nature and malice of sin, we have seen, consists in the violation of God's laws, because they are God's laws. We are responsible to God for every thought, word and deed, and we are also responsible for the influence that our every act and word may have on our fellow men. In order that we may be ministers unto salvation and not to death to our fellow men, I shall endeavor to show you this evening some of the effects which example produces.
 

   1. There is nothing more certain than the fact that the world is very wicked. The fell spirit of atheism is rampant. It pervades the science and literature of the day, and intrudes itself into politics and business, and even enters the ordinary affairs of daily life. It would seem that men have grown tired of God's revelation, and agreed among themselves to banish religion out of the world. They are not willing to give it shelter even within the hallowed precincts of the Church. The very men who at present rule the world and are expected to give tone to society practice religion only so far as it subserves their own sordid interests. In theory and practice, the fundamental principles of morality are denied. The Ten Commandments of the eternal God are set aside, as men would throw off worn out garments. They have done their duty and are now out of fashion. Sordid self-interest, and a regard of what the world will say, form the new code of morals by which men regulate their conduct. Charity and chastity and humility, as inculcated by Christ, are all but unknown virtues, and at no period of the world's history, I venture to say, was man more completely of the "earth earthy" than in this age ot boasted enlightenment and social progress.

   But God has written His law upon the conscience of man, and however deplorably man may degenerate he will never erase from his mind the knowledge of good and evil, nor will he pluck out of his heart his natural respect for virtue and aversion to vice. His conduct may be at variance with the principles of morality, but in his heart, in his inmost soul, he will never call evil good or good evil. Neither will he say that vice does honor to a man, nor that virtue degrades him. He is convinced that the very contrary of all this is true. Society may, therefore, degenerate, men may throw off all moral restraint, and corruption may become frightfully prevalent, yet virtue will not cease to command respect. The just man may be persecuted by the wicked and the envious, his very virtue held up to scorn, but this is the compliment that vice pays to virtue. And yet, in their sober moments, when the intoxication caused by unbridled passion is over, they will enter into themselves and acknowledge that the man whom they held up to scorn and ridicule is, after all, a better man than they are.

  2. When men see, therefore, that the priest is the first to respect the sanctity of his calling; that the politician and office holder study not their own personal aggrandizement or sordid interests, but their country's welfare; that the lawyer does not prey like a vulture on the substance of his client, and undertakes not the defense of an unjust cause; that the magistrate sells not justice to the highest bidder; when they see that merchants are scrupulously exact in their business transactions, and that the rich man is not an extortioner of the poor, but loves to be their friend and protector; that the employer pays honest wages for the work performed, and that the laborer is conscientious in the discharge of his duties; when they see that the young man is industrious and avoids the places of dissipation and company in which no respect is paid to virtue; that the look and the dress, and the spirit, and the whole deportment of the young woman betray modest reserve and a delicate sense of honor; when they see, in fine, that the husband is faithful to his wife, and the wife to the husband, and that parents train their children to habits of virtue, and that they in turn take pride in doing honor to their parents; when men see all this, I say, they will respect the conduct of such men and women and regard them as model men and women.

And if with all this they see that these persons, though they make no parade of their religion, are yet deeply religious, and show on every occasion a profound respect for their religion; if they see that they frequent the Church, assist at Mass, listen reverently to the word of God, devoutly receive the Sacraments, observe the fasts, in a word, scrupulously comply with all the observances of their religion; when they see that though they boast not of their faith, they are neither afraid nor ashamed to confess it, almost without being aware of it, men transfer the respect they have for these persons to the religion which they profess. To act out our religion in our daily life is our solemn duty, for we must let the light of our good example shine before all men.

  3. We know that it is the province of religion to raise men in the scale of moral excellence and to train them to habits of solid virtue. When men see, therefore, that our people are penetrated with a deep sense of religion; that the sharpest scrutiny sees in them nothing worthy of blame, but everything that commands respect and admiration, they naturally conclude that it is religion which has made them what they are, and then they will say that a religion which can form such men and women is a necessity to man's moral wants; that it is a friend and benefactor to the human race; that they who despise its teachings and seek its destruction are enemies of our race, since they undermine the whole moral order, and the very foundation on which our prosperity is based. Thus, by our irreproachable conduct, men are led to respect our holy religion, to admire and love it, and often seek shelter within her sanctuary from the desolating skeptic and brute materialist of our age.

     And now, my brethren, if we are to cooperate in this grand work of saving souls, how are we to do it? Simply by letting the bright light of our example shine before men that they may glorify our Father in Heaven.

    Good example is more powerful than mere learned words; it makes an impression where words would be thrown away, and speaks to those whom our words could never reach. Men must see us whether we will or not. If our conduct is correct in every detail they will notice it, and respect us for it; if on the contrary, it is scandalous, they will be shocked and treat us with the contempt which we so richly deserve. In either case our religion will gain or suffer. Men usually judge the tree by its fruits, and the impression exists that religion is intimately connected with moral conduct; religion is the tree which bears the fruit of our works.

    4. In the whole history of religion there is, perhaps, no fact more surprising than the rapid conversion of the world to Christianity. When we consider the gigantic, and humanly speaking, insurmountable obstacles which the Christian faith had to encounter when first preached; when we reflect on the strong and apparently well grounded attachment which the Jews had to the religion of their forefathers, and the aversion which they naturally must have had to a religion whose Founder they had nailed to the Cross; when we consider the almost irresistible charms which paganism possessed in its teachings; so satisfactory to degraded reason in its morality; so perfectly in harmony with the corrupt instincts of the human heart; in its worship so alluring to the senses, and with all the magnificence with which power and wealth and genius and art had embellished it; then, on the other hand, when we consider that most repulsive character of the Christian religion; its doctrines so mysterious; its morality so unmercifully severe; its novelty and the low extraction of its first teachers, the poverty of its disciples; when we consider that during centuries of pagan superstition the worst passions of the human heart had exercised unlimited sway over the minds of men, and how at the first announcement of Christianity the whole colossal power of the Roman empire was employed to extirpate the very name of Christian from the face of the earth; when we look at the funeral piles erected in every corner of the empire, the wild beasts from Germany's forests or Africa's deserts brought to the amphitheater, the torrents of blood that flowed and crimsoned the earth for nearly three hundred years, we are struck with amazement on beholding the Church issuing forth from the Catacombs, ascending the throne of the Caesars and ruling over nations that formed the great Roman Empire, and provinces that during seven hundred years even Roman valor could not subdue.

   5. And what, my friends, was the cause of this wonderful growth of the Church? Why, coming forth from the midst of darkness and gloom, like the rising sun, has she so quickly attained the glory of meridian splendor? Was it the teaching of her doctors, the eloquence of her preachers, or the miracles wrought? There is today as much learning and eloquence in the Church as there was then, the power of working miracles exists now as it did then; there are at present living miracles in the Church. Why, then, are conversions so rare in our day? What could be the secret of her success in those early times? It was the patient zeal, the self-sacrificing charity of her priests; it was the heroic constancy of her Martyrs; it was the purity of her virgins. It was, in short, the extraordinary sanctity of her children. This was the powerful weapon with which she attacked Judaism, and paganism, the superstitions and vices of that voluptuous age,
and with this weapon she achieved her most brilliant conquests.

Example! Oh, how much more eloquent than mere words? When the children of the Church were animated with her spirit she was happy; then she made amazing progress, notwithstanding the most powerful and violent opposition against her. But when her children became degenerate, then days of grief came upon her and she sustained terrible losses. Her worst enemies have been her own degenerate children. Every heresy that has arisen owes its existence to a bad child of the Church, and from the ranks of bad Catholics every heresy receives its strength. It is not the dungeon or exile or loss of property that the Church fears. She fears not the rack, the fire, or sword or persecution in its bitterest form. No! This is her glory! It is then that she appears to the greatest advantage; then that she draws upon herself the world's attention and excites the admiration of man, and what, humanly speaking, should have been her loss proves to be her gain.

   But when her own children lose sight of the sanctity of their vocation and degenerate, then the Church grows weak; then her influence over individuals and over society becomes less powerful; her efforts for the salvation of souls are paralyzed; men either notice her not, or if they do, it is only to point at her the finger of scorn and reproach. There is nothing that so powerfully prejudices non-Catholics against the Church as the scandalous conduct of some Catholics. I know, indeed, that the disedifying conduct of some Catholics is no valid argument against the Church, for if Catholics are bad, they are not so because they are Catholics, but because they are false to her teachings.

   6. No one knew better than our Lord how admirably suited to man's wants the Christian religion is; no one knew better than He its wondrous power to develop man's character so as to make him the very ideal of moral excellence. But Our Savior Himself plainly foretold that scandals would arise even in the Church. He likens her to a field in which cockle grows up amid the wheat; He tells us that she is like a net in which all kinds of fish, good and bad, are found. And He says that she resembles the ten virgins, five of whom are foolish virgins. But what follows from this? Simply this, that religion does not destroy man's free will; does not annihilate man's natural inclination to evil, that it does not force him to live up to his convictions. It is not fair, therefore, to hold the Church responsible for the crimes of her children. But we must not forget that men generally do not reason very logically on the facts that come under their observation. The majority of men are at most only superficial thinkers, and the shrewdest logicians will reason correctly on but few subjects. It is certain that men connect the Church with the bad lives of her children. "He is a bad man," they think and say, "and he is a Catholic; yet the Catholic Church thinks herself better than other Churches."

We cannot change men's ways of thinking, and it matters little whether a man loses his soul logically or illogically, but it is of great importance to us that we be not the cause or occasion of his ruin. It may be very true that men cannot plead a valid excuse for their unbelief; it may be true that they lose their souls through their own fault; but if through our disedifying conduct we have confirmed them in their prejudices against the Church, and thus prevented them from examining her claims, how terrible will not our responsibility be in the sight of God? It is a dreadful thing to be obliged to answer to Almighty God for a single soul lost through our fault. And, oh, my friends, how do our accounts stand regarding this matter?

   If then, my friends, we love the Church of which through the great mercy of God we have the happiness to be members; if we love the precious souls for whom Jesus Christ died upon the Cross; if we would not see reprobates rising up against us on the day of judgment accusing us of their eternal ruin; if we would not have God Himself on that dreadful day demand the blood of those unfortunate souls at our hands, let us strive to live so that we may never be a stumbling block to anyone. Let our lives be conformable to the teachings of the Church. Let the bright light of our example shine before men, that, seeing our works they may recognize in us children of our Father in Heaven. Scandals there must needs be, but let each one take heed unto himself lest it be through him that scandal cometh. For our Lord has said: "It were better for a man, had he never been born; better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he should be buried in the depths of the sea, than that he should live to be the cause of another's ruin." Amen. 

A note about the Divine Mercy collage: We chose this image as a reminder to us to ask for God's mercy for those occasions when we may have been a stumbling block to others through our bad example, intended or not. The collage's candle reminds us that we are meant to be a light unto the nations, whatever our personal frailties and that we must strive with all our strength to not be a source of scandal even in the smallest of things. For instance, byway of one example, many Catholics think it is permissible to shop on Sunday in a general way [not a genuine unforeseen emergency or for the Sunday paper which can only be purchased on Sunday, etc.] and they think nothing of the "message" they give their neighbor in this regard.