WE’VE been warned that scandals are unavoidable. “Woe to the world for scandals! For it is necessary that scandals come, but woe to the man by whom the scandal comes!” (Mt 18,7)
We are familiar with these words of our Lord. They correspond to the sad reality that precisely because of our freedom, we have the capability not only to do a lot of good, but also a lot of evil, to the point of creating quite a mess of a scandal.
Even our first parents, while still in the splendid state of original justice, cannot avoid falling into sin. Freedom is such an intoxicating gift from God that its misuse can really cause quite a devastation, just as its proper use can truly make us living images of God, children of his.
It can raise us to heaven or plunge us to hell. It’s as simple as that. And with the effects of sin, those of the inherited original and those of our own personal, the probability of sinning and creating scandals has expanded and multiplied.
We should not be surprised if scandals come. What we have to do when they come, or even before they come—since it’s something we try to avoid as much as possible—is to make that earnest effort to build up and strengthen our integrity.
This is the lifelong task of unifying everything in our life and submitting them to the ultimate source and purpose of our life—God. Short of that, let’s be honest and not call something fake as integrity. Our heroes and leaders and other public figures should be the first to live and promote true integrity.
Our bodily and spiritual faculties have to be integrated with nothing less than God’s grace and our own efforts. I’m afraid there’s no other formula to achieve this. More, it’s a task that has to be done by each one of us personally and directly. It cannot be outsourced or delegated to others.
It’s true that we have a social bond among ourselves, and there’s also that beautiful truth of our faith called “communion of saints,” both of which enable us to help one another, but they do not exempt us from our own personal responsibility to develop authentic integrity.
This is because as persons, who think and are free, we need also to be responsible for all our actions, and even for our life. God’s responsibility and providence over us does not replace, but rather requires, our personal responsibility over our life and that of others.
And so, our integriy has to be both an effect of grace and a fruit of our efforts. It is both God’s doing and our duty, a divine gift and a human task.
But how are we doing in this job of building up our integrity? I’m afraid that the word, let alone the concept and truth, has all but disappeared in people’s mind. Hardly anyone talks about it, much less, know what are involved to attain it.
I think we need a revolution of sorts to allow this human requirement to come knocking at the threshhold of our consciousness. We are so held up by material, earthly and temporal concerns that we become practically incapable of taking care of his spiritual needs.
Are people praying? Do they spend time to nourish their inner selves with spiritual and moral truths? Do they have an ongoing, endless program of developing virtues? And for Catholics, do we frequent the sacraments? Is our piety real, supported by throbbing faith, hope and charity?
I have my doubts that these activities are undertaken. And if they are, they are likely to be spotty not consistent, shallow not deep and thorough, confined to a few people and not generalized. In our age of massive information technological capabilities, these facts are in themselves a scandal.
Some dare to advertize their integrity, only to be exposed later on that what they have is just a mask, a façade, a scarecrow, an empty suit.
Without integrity, there’s no way to minimize, let alone, avoid scandals. Let’s ask the likes of Hayden Kho, Katrina Halili, Vicky Belo, all public figures, if they know what integrity is, and if they’re doing something about it.
There’s always hope. We don’t need harsh words and uncharitable thoughts towards anyone. But please, let’s be serious with integrity-building! Let’s help one another in this very crucial aspect of our life.
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