Loyalty Vs Treachery & The Mortal Sin Of Stealing Honour

† LOYALTY – Not to elevate myself to Ruth’s status at all, but her story, love, and devotion are etched into my heart. When Robert first endured slander and gossip through #SurvivingRKelly, #MeToo, #MuteRKelly, news networks, YouTube, and basically everywhere, his friends and family started to walk away and turn their backs on him. At that time, I didn’t know him well; in fact, we had just become close and dear to each other, like old friends with an unbelievable, Godly passion for each other in the purest way. In that moment, Ruth’s words came to me, and I knew it was the path I would take, no matter what happened. I knew that, more than anything in this world, Robert needed the greatest sign of God’s love, devotion, and loyalty. He needed to remember what pure love was: a love that never wanted anything from him. I told him point-blank: “I don’t want your money; I don’t want a single cent of it in any form.”

I said to Robert, quoting Ruth’s words, and I meant every single word, because that’s how I felt. But also, it’s what I knew he needed to know and hear from at least one person in his life. I said, “From now on, your friends will be my friends, and your enemies will be my enemies.” You can read more of our story in my last blog post, “Love and Marriage” – the blog link is in the bio.

† LOYALTY (Today, we have a real issue with loyalty and betrayal (treachery) in our world. It starts in the family system and then spreads out like cancer. Ruth’s story represents the kind of loyalty that God expects from us towards those we love – the kind God upholds before the world as holy. We can’t just be loyal to one person in our family or friend group! This woman, Naomi, wasn’t even Ruth’s blood mother, but her mother-in-law. This Lent and Easter, meditate on that and whether you engage in worldly behaviors such as ganging up, bullying people, excluding family members, not inviting people disliked by others, #triangulation (where you exclude one person together with another to bully, hurt, or shame them for no reason except your own sinful, selfish agenda). You may sabotage them, gossip behind their back, slander them, or steal their honor.

RUTH:

Ruth 1:16-17, where Ruth says to her mother-in-law Naomi:

“Do not press me to leave you
or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die—
there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!”

In this passage, Ruth is expressing her loyalty and commitment to Naomi, and by extension, to Naomi’s people and God. The phrase “your enemies will become my enemies” is not explicitly stated, but the sentiment is implied in Ruth’s declaration of solidarity with Naomi.

††*

STEALING HONOUR IS A MORTAL SIN

† The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses the issue of stealing someone’s honor in paragraph 2479:

“Whoever uses the power at their disposal in such a way that it causes unjust damage to another’s reputation or communication of life is guilty of a grave fault if they falsely harm a person’s reputation by calumny, slander, and defamation.”

And in paragraph 2480:

“Every word or attitude is forbidden which by flattery, adulation, or complaisance encourages others to speak ill of another. Detraction and calumny destroy the reputation and honor of one’s neighbor. Honor is the social witness given to human dignity, and everyone enjoys a natural right to the honor that belongs to their dignity. Thus the duty to safeguard one’s own honor is accompanied by the duty to show respect for that of others.”

In summary, the Catholic Church teaches that stealing someone’s honor through calumny, slander, defamation, detraction, or other forms of harmful speech or behavior is a grave fault that destroys a person’s reputation and dignity.