Memorial of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, Virgin
We are going to sin; it is going to happen. Granted it is possible, as shown in the lives of numerous saints, to go a whole lifetime without committing a single mortal sin. However, Jesus warns us today that the one who is the source of temptation for another, who willfully seeks to draw another into sin. For to do this is to be in league with Satan, the great tempter and accuser, to ally oneself with the Tempter and his minions. Hence when our brother sins we want to exhort him to repent; when he does so, we must forgive him and encourage him against that sin in the future: we want to be in league with Jesus.
To be a means of sin for someone else, a willing participant in the fall of another soul is a truly devilish thing to do; but, as St. James writes, “…whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins,” (James 5:20).