FIRST KIND OF SCANDAL.

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MONSIEUR LE CURÉ,

LETTER VI.

Of scandal.

One day, after Holy Communion, the Saviour Jesus spoke thus to me of scandal :

:

"My daughter," He said, "one of the things which I most strictly enjoined on My disciples during My life was the avoidance of scandal; I say it again to you. The world shall be accursed because of its scandals. Woe also to the man who gives scandal ! *

"Scandal is the bad example given to others by a word or an act which is not, wholly or in part, conformable to what is right.

"Scandal is any bad action committed by others after, and in consequence of, hearing a word or witnessing an act which is not, wholly or in part, conformable to what is right.

"Scandal, in fine, is any bad action committed by others under the false pretext of a word that has been heard or an act that has been witnessed which is reckoned to be culpable, although that word or that act may have had nothing in it but what was innocent.

"He who performs an act or utters a word which is culpable, or bears the appearance of being culpable, with the intention of drawing his neighbour into evil, is guilty of the first kind of scandal, even though his act should remain without effect. He also is guilty of that kind of scandal by the word he utters or the act he performs, even though he had no intention of scandalising, if by that word or that act he draws his neighbour into evil.

"He who hearing an unseemly word, or witnessing a criminal act, lets himself be drawn into speaking or acting in the same manner is guilty of the second kind of scandal.

“He who hearing a good and blameless word, or witnessing an act which has in it nothing but what is conformable to good, chooses to put a bad construction upon it in order to act criminally is guilty of the third kind of scandal.

"I call the first kind of scandal infernal scandal, because he who gives this scandal imitates the devils in labouring for the ruin of souls. This is the kind of scandal of which I said: "Woe to that man by whom the scandal cometh !'*

"I call the second kind of scandal the scandal of children, because children are more liable, on account of their weakness or their ignorance, to let themselves be drawn into evil by witnessing it, or because they who let themselves be drawn into evil by the sight of it are weak like children. It was for the avoidance of this scandal that I said: 'He that shall scandalise one of these little ones who believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were drowned in the depth of the sea.' +

"I call the third kind of scandal the scandal of blindness. It was of this scandal that I said to My disciples regarding the Pharisees, who were scandalised by My words: 'Let them alone; they are blind and leaders of the blind.'+

"These three kinds of scandal are sins more or less grievous according to the greater or less deliberation + Ib. verse 6.

*St. Matthew xviii. 7.

Ib. xv. 14.

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of him who wishes to draw another into evil; according to the degree of culpability in the act which is the cause or the occasion of sin; according to the magnitude of the fault into which another is made to fall; according as the bad act which is unjustly based and grounded on another act which has nothing criminal in it is more or less opposed to the rule of right.

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See, My daughter, how great a sin the first kind of scandal is. I insist strongly upon this scandal, because the scandal of children is but the consequence of infernal scandal, and the scandal of blindness is not really scandal at all.

“In fact, he who scandalises offends God by the evil act he commits. He rebels against God, he breaks the yoke of the Lord to stoop beneath that of Satan. Nor is this all at the same time that he is a rebellious child of God he is an active minister of the prince of darkness; he is his visible agent on earth in his work of destruction and eternal ruin to souls. His act is a seed of death cast into souls; it is a stone thrown on the road to Heaven to precipitate into hell those whom it strikes; it is a net which catches and holds fast in evil him who has not strength enough either to break through it or avoid it. His act is a homicide, not for time, but for eternity. O My daughter, woe, woe, a threefold woe, to him who gives scandal !

"I Myself will take vengeance upon him. I will demand an account of him for all these souls for which I shed My blood on Calvary, for which I died upon the Cross, and which he has destroyed, has delivered over again to Satan and buried eternally in the abyss of hell.

"These souls were My property, they were the price of My blood; he robbed Me of them, woe be to

him! My blood shall rest upon his head, and shall fall upon his brow more terribly than on that of the Jews who shed it.

"I will confront the scandalous with all the fury of a father whose child has been slain, of a ransomer who has been robbed of him whom he had saved, of a God who receives his maledictions and the maledictions of others when nothing but love, praise, and thanksgiving were due to Him. What reply will he make to My wrath, what reply will he make to My paternal love incensed against him, because he has separated from Me for ever souls which I cherished as their God and Saviour? Will he be able to endure the severity of My countenance? Will he be able to endure the reproaches of My voice? All external nature will cry for vengeance against the scandalous, and all that is in Me will be manifested to him as exercising this vengeance. Henceforth between him and Me there will be an everlasting separation. O My daughter, woe, woe, a threefold woe, to him who gives scandal! My daughter, fly from scandal as one of those sins which most afflict Me. Never let there be anything in your words, in your looks, in your dress, in your bearing, in your actions, which might scandalise your neighbour. Often there needs but a little thing to scandalise a soul and ruin it for ever.

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"Dread lest you should have a share in the maledictions which I have denounced against the world and its scandals. Give no scandal; on the contrary, repair even the scandals of others who ought themselves to make reparation for them and do not.'

It was thus the Saviour Jesus spoke to me. His voice was loud and terrible as thunder, when He was threatening the scandalous, and penetrated my very

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soul. I was seized with fear; but He reassured me, bidding me unite myself to Him, and remain attached to Him, for by acting thus I should never give scandal.

I should be very blamable and very ungrateful to the Saviour Jesus if I could ever forget myself so far as to scandalise any one. No, never will I do so willingly; and may I never give scandal involuntarily and by reason of my weakness and inclination to evil. To this end I commend myself to your fervent prayers. Receive, Monsieur le Curé, my revered father in the Lord, the offering I make of those sentiments of profound respect and entire obedience to all your wishes with which I am

Your very humble servant,

MIMBASTE, 8th June, 1842.

MARIE.

LETTER VII.

Of the union of soul and body. How the soul is the life of the body. Union of the powers of the soul. Of the part taken by each faculty in constituting sin.

MONSIEUR LE CURÉ,

The Saviour Jesus gave me one day an instruction which I will now submit to you. This is what He said to me, and these are His words as I remember them :

"My daughter," He said, "I wish to explain to you what has never been explained to you, to wit, the union of the soul with the body; the way in which