Scandals

(Occasions to sin)

There’s one Spanish saying that conveys an applicable meaning for our moral lives. “La ocasion hace el ladron” (Opportunity makes the thief). That means, if we take away all the precautionary safeguards, that would be tempting enough for violations in thievery or other kinds of sinful acts.

It seems that society today seems to be multiplicating these occasions or temptations too by the uncontrolled use of the media, to the point of indecency, thus showing a lack of respect for the human anatomy, especially of the female figure, being excessively exposed to nudity in the Internet pictures and videos. It is not the right way of making money, which in the present case becomes a source of corruption and abuse, for both young and old, as well as contributing to a distorted view of the human person. The pornography producers are not just doing a wrong way of making money but also contributing a waste of time, since pornography has negative effects in the person.

“Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Obstacles are sure to come, but alas for the one who provides them! It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone put round his neck than that he should lead astray a single one of these little ones. Watch yourselves!’” (Lk. 17:1-3) The word scandal originally derives from the Latin ‘scandalum’ which implies an obstacle to cause someone to trip or fall.