Warnings and qualities

Given what we have heard in the news so much in recent years, the juxtaposition of today’s two readings – the first, in which Saint Paul describes the required qualities of a bishop (Titus 1:1-9) and the Gospel, in which our Lord gives a dire warning against those who cause scandal and “little ones to sin” (Luke 17:1-6) – may inevitably lead a person to think of the evils of sexual abuse by priests and the failures of certain bishops who could have stopped many of these crimes.

It can never be repeated enough that children must be protected from such evils and the people who are culpable in these matters must be held personally responsible.

Yet each of us must also remember what Saint Paul says about bishops in today’s first reading and each of us pray for our own bishop: that he may be

...hospitable,
a lover of goodness,
temperate,
just,
holy,
and self-controlled,
holding fast to the true message as taught
so that he will be able
both to exhort with sound doctrine
and to refute opponents.

Indeed, you and I should exhibit these same qualities in our own lives, no matter who we are.