Thursday of the Twenty-third Week in Ordinary Time
(I Corinthians 8:1b-7.11-13; Luke 6: 27-38)
St. Paul does not use the word scandal in today’s
first reading, but he talks about it.
When one says or does something to cause another to sin, that person is
giving scandal. Paul exhorts the
Corinthians to avoid scandal by not taking food that has been offered to pagan
gods. Although the gods do not exist, he
knows that some believe that food is contaminated when offered to them. These people will be scandalized by seeing
another Christian eat it and may eat it themselves. They will sin because their scrupulous consciences
will tell them that it is wrong to eat offerings to god.
Scandal is a difficult torrent to maneuver around. People can be scrupulous about the slightest
thing. Some think drinking coffee at
Starbucks, whose founder has contributed to Planned Parenthood, is sinful. Some moralists have tried to rationalize
scandal by distinguishing between “scandal given” and “scandal taken.” The former is doing something truly wrong,
for example, attending an “all-girl revue” at a men’s club. The latter is considered a problem of
scrupulosity on the part of the viewer. But
this distinction conflicts with what Paul is saying.
We should heed Paul’s advice and not say or do something
that will be taken as sinful among the people present. If scrupulosity is the problem, we might
explain how what we are doing is not sinful.
What is essential is that we follow Jesus’ gospel command to love
everyone by doing what is good. He has
loved us by sacrificing everything for us.
We can sacrifice something for the sake of our sisters and brothers in
him.
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