He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him.
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Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
I beseech you by Christ: God is feeding us, we are about to refresh our bodies in the name of Christ; they both are in some good measure refreshed, and are to be refreshed: let the mind be fed. Not that I am going to speak for a long time, do I say this; for behold, the lesson is now coming to an end: but lest haply of weariness we should hear less attentively than we ought that which is most necessary.— He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no scandal, or none occasion of stumbling, in him. Who are they that take scandal or make scandal? They that are offended in Christ, and in the Church. They that are offended in Christ, are as if burnt by the sun, those in the Church as by the moon. But the Psalm says, The sun shall not burn you by day, neither the moon by night: i.e., if you hold fast charity, neither in Christ shall you have occasion of falling, nor in the Church; neither Christ shall you forsake, nor the Church. For he that forsakes the Church, how is he in...
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light (of faith and love: this is an antithesis to the former verse), and there is no occasion for stumbling in him. S. Jerome (in Matt. xxv.) explains the words πζόστομμα and σκάνδαλον. This may be taken to have either an active or a passive meaning, the giving of offence, or the taking of offence. See 1 Corinthians 13:4; Proverbs 15:19; Psalm 119:165. One who loves neither gives offence, nor takes it: "If my brother offends me," they would say, "shall I abandon charity? Far from it. I will overcome evil with good, I will follow Christ, I will show him how I love the brethren, how I love God. I will not fight against my brother who has wronged me. I will rather fight against his disease of mind, and drown his anger and ill-will with floods of charity." S. Augustine says (in loc.), "Who are they who either take or make offence? They who are offended at Christ or the Church. They who are offended in Christ are burnt as by th...
