St. Francis de Sales taught in Introduction to the Devout Life that our life exists in three levels; the life of the body, the life of the soul, and the life in society.
Thou shalt not commit murder is a commandment that can be broken in three ways; to unjustly deprive the body of life is the first but not the only way to commit murder. If one is the cause of the commission of a mortal sin, one has killed the soul, a far greater evil than the unjust killing of the body, as it deprives one of eternal life. The third form of murder is the killing of one's social life by revealing the hidden sins of a man, thus depriving him of his good name and social standing.
That is what we here in Idaho have witnessed these last couple of days. The truth is as the truth is in the matter, but sadly, we have still been forced to watch a public execution.
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Good points, Mark, but I guess i need to read further down your blog to find out who you are referring to? Has one of your priests been under attack?
ReplyDeleteOne of our US Senators.
ReplyDeleteI think this confuses public crimes with private sins. Sen. Craig's crime is public record. No one sinned by writing or talking about if for three reasons:
ReplyDelete-it was committed publicly (in a public restroom);
-it was a crime, not just a sin, and therefore the public has a right to know about it;
-it involved the integrity and character of an elected official and could potentially influence a constituent's confidence in the official's ability to represent him in the government.