14 November, Antonio, Cardinal Bacci: Meditations For Each Day

Good Example

1. The Saints achieved a great deal by preaching and by conversation, but they achieved far more by good example. Their spiritual power of personality touched even the most hardened sinners.

It is said of St. Romuald that everyone who visited him experienced great interior happiness. His appearance alone was enough to cheer them. He was so detached from himself and from the things of the world, and so absorbed in God, that he was always smiling. The Cure d'Ars, too, converted more people by the unseen impact of his personal holiness than by the simple sermons which he delivered to the crowds gathered about him.

Unfortunately, quite the opposite influence is exerted by hardened sinners and by self-centred worldlings, and even greater damage is done by those who are immersed in soul-destroying sensuality. The latter exhale the breath of death, and the familiarity of their friendship perverts and corrupts those with whom they come in contact.

Examine your behaviour at home and in society, for it affects not only your own spiritual welfare, but that of your neighbour as well.

2. The Holy Spirit tells us that God entrusts to everyone the care of his neighbour. (Ecclus. 17:12) “Let your light shine before men,” says Jesus Christ, “in order that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Mt. 5: 16) St. Paul echoes this counsel when he warns us not to return evil for evil, but to “provide good things not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of all men.” (Cf. Rom. 12:17) In other words, we are obliged to edify our neighbour by our good example.

Good example is the most effective sermon, and it is a sermon which all of us can and should deliver. We ought to preach this sermon everywhere and at all times—in the Church and outside it, in our family circle and in society, with our superiors, equals and inferiors, when we are speaking and when we are silent, in our behaviour and in our appearance.

3. Above all, we must avoid giving scandal. Jesus Christ strongly condemned this sin, which destroys so many souls. “Woe to the world because of scandals! . . . Woe to the man through whom scandal does come! . . . It were better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.” (Mt. 18:5-7) If we are compelled to admit that by our behaviour or conversation we have given rise to scandal and have endangered the eternal salvation of our neighbour, let us repent humbly and do our best to repair the damage as far as possible.

Let us henceforth endeavour, moreover, to edify our fellow-men in every possible way. What a consolation it would be for us to know that we had led a soul back to God. It would be more than a consolation; in fact, it would be a guarantee of our own future salvation.

“My brethren,” says St. James, “if any one of you strays from the truth and someone brings him back, he ought to know that he who causes a sinner to be brought back from his misguided way, will save his soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20)