“But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of scandals. For it must needs be that scandals come: but nevertheless woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh. And if thy hand, or thy foot scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to go into life maimed or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thy eye scandalize thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee having one eye to enter into life, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”
“I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live: and that thou mayst love the Lord thy God, and obey his voice, and adhere to him” (Deuteronomy 30:19). While the previous verses looked at the beauty of the happy life and the draw to a loving relationship with the Father, Jesus also warns against the perils of sin, of committing adultery against the Divine Bridegroom: “That because the rebellious Israel had played the harlot, I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce” (Jeremias 3:8). First, Jesus looks at scandalizing a little one of the faith, someone that is fresh and feeble, whose heart is not secure in being loved. He discusses this because the Apostles were called to be the exemplars of His doctrine, and if they were contending amongst themselves about preeminence, then those that were weaker in faith would either be offended or imitate them: “Seek not of the Lord a pre-eminence, nor of the king the seat of honour” (Ecclesiasticus 7:4). It is a call to look at the young and impressionable Christians, both in age and in spiritual maturity, and that in doing something that scandalizes them, pushing them away from the divine love story, the Lover of their souls is justifiably outraged. When Jesus says that it is better that a millstone be hung around the neck than to intrude with ugliness on His honeymoon with another, this is because it was a method of execution reserved to the greatest criminals, for to scandalize another not only stains the soul with sin, but also impedes the love blooming between God and the other person: “Judge this rather, that you put not a stumblingblock or a scandal in your brother’s way” (Romans 14:13). It is not only a rejection of the Divine Lover, which itself reaches for eternal punishment, but one that reaches into another’s love and puts an obstacle there as well, showing that, for this, the punishment is all the greater: “How much more, do you think he deserveth worse punishments, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God” (Hebrews 10:29). There can also be a mystical meaning, that great minds that have wandered into non-Catholic doctrines in their leisure and led people in their wake would have had less atrocious love stories if they had simply been weighed down with the desires of pleasure and wallowed in these, rather than corrupting the souls of others: “Thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat, and to commit fornication: so thou hast also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaites” (Apocalypse 2:14), which is representative of all foreign doctrines: “Be not led away with various and strange doctrines” (Hebrews 13:9). Jesus then says, “woe to the world because of scandals,” but the Apostles had left the world: “Behold, we have left all things, and have followed thee” (Luke 18:28), and let themselves be carried above human nature into the divine: “I have said: You are gods and all of you sons of the most high” (Psalm 81:6). Here it is of note that love transforms the lover into the beloved, and so to love Jesus in spirit and truth is to be transformed into Him: “If then any be in Christ a new creature, the old things are passed away, behold all things are made new” (2 Corinthians 5:17), whereas to love the world and the things thereof is to become more like them and subservient to them. Those that love the things in the world, be it themselves, money, pleasure, power, or delights of the eyes, bring about the scandals that come about in the world: “For the desire of money is the root of all evils” (1 Timothy 6:10); “For the beginning of fornication is the devising of idols: and the invention of them is the corruption of life” (Wisdom 14:12). In this life people with these desires will always be present, which then brings about the suffering in the world, but these become a tool for love, that those that love may either alleviate the suffering, or hold the hand of the one in trial, that love may carry them through: “That they also, who are approved, may be made manifest among you” (1 Corinthians 11:19). They also show the infinite merciful love of God, who sees His children falling into sin, error, and scandal, and rise more attentive than before, now armed with experience: “A man that hath much experience, shall think of many things: and he that hath learned many things, shall shew forth understanding” (Ecclesiasticus 34:9), and greater insight into the patient love of God: “The Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth pateintly for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance” (2 Peter 3:9). Now, the enemy seeks to scandalize and ruin every man possible, for St. Catherine of Siena says that to contemplate his hatred and the effects thereof is one of the punishments of Hell, and there are some that are willing instruments of this, but it is a greater evil to give offense than to receive it, for bearing with such things with heroic love only exhibits its beauty all the more, whereas to cause scandal or offend another, in the long run, only serves to mar the beauty of one’s soul: “That thou mayest bear thy shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done” (Ezechiel 16:54). In your case, Theophila, you are called to watch, to guard the purity of your soul’s mirror image of Christ with great care, and any blot on this image is an action against your divine Spouse. You can be brought low by family, friends, hobbies, and spiritualities that all seem as necessary as limbs, but when they render you less than shining and magnificent in your beauty: “Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?” (Canticle 6:9), they need amputation, especially if a believer would be scandalized by this. Nothing is as important as maintaining the love between you and Jesus, Theophila, and in knowing yourself, you know what makes you beautiful and what doesn’t, therefore knowing where you should set your feet: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths” (Psalm 118:105), and all that would inhibit this, discard as a woman would a hideous garment, that you may put on the beautiful garments of virtue: “Put on the garments of thy glory, O Jerusalem” (Isaias 52:1), which are attained by setting your hands to work in acts of love: “My hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the choicest myrrh” (Canticle 5:5), words of kindness: “Well ordered words are as a honeycomb: sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24), and holy leisure: “The wisdom of a scribe cometh by his time of leisure” (Ecclesiasticus 38:25). With these, the beauty of your love will be accentuated by garments of goodness, rendering you captivating to your Beloved: “Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse” (Canticle 4:9).