CORRUPTING THE SIMPLE BELIEVERS
Thursday in the Seventh Week of Ordinary Time
My dear encountered couples:
There is much talk these days about whether the social media, especially the internet, is responsible for influencing children towards crime and immorality. Something, or someone, certainly seems to be. They weren’t born that way. We are being reminded in our gospel today that we all have responsibilities towards one another.
“It would be better,” Jesus said, “if anyone who leads astray one of these simple believers were to be plunged into the sea with a great millstone fastened around his neck.” If there are any “simple believers,” it is our children. They believe daddy and mommy, brother and sister, they believe Mickey Mouse and the Spider-Man. Children can be influenced by almost anyone. What kind of influence do we spread around?
We have to be ourselves, don’t we? Every time we say something, we can’t always be looking around to see who might be listening. And we can never be sure that all our actions aren’t seen by somebody with an impressionable mind. To monitor ourselves every moment of every day would soon put us under a doctor’s care. What is expected of us, though, as Christians is that we do our best to become aware of our deficiencies, especially those dealing with morality. We are to keep working on improving ourselves.
We also need to pursue true knowledge so that we don’t spread too many false notions around when we open our mouths. Truth and good morals! Good goals for all of us. If we keep striving after those, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about any millstones.
