Forgiveness

In last week’s article I argued that hell is truly our own choice, and that God’s love constantly reaches out to us, we need only to accept it. Yet this fact should not give us a false sense of ambivalence toward following the rules of morality. Rather, it enlightens us to the radical source of these rules, which is to point us toward fulfilling our life-long desires, answered in the embrace of God’s love. We should be terrified to lose out on this reward. What greater motivation do we need for living with charity, compassion and love?

The punishment for living a selfish life will not be a torture chamber designed by Satan within the allowance of God. The punishment will be an utter severance from Love. The fiery image of hell, however, does not even begin to describe such pain. It will be the complete and total absence of love, community, and the embracing companionship of another. And we will have built our own torture chamber through the selfishness of our sin.

Should we then fear God? By no means, for God wants so desperately to love us. God’s justice must be viewed in the context of his love. Love desires communion with the beloved and if our selfishness does not allow that, then it is just, that we are separated from God. We may fear that our sins are two great for God to forgive, but only if we are still living in the state of selfishness that causes that sin. If so, we are in a mortal state in a perilous separation from Love. But as soon as we turn to God with an open heart, the sin has already been forgiven. No sin is too great to be forgiven, but forgiveness cannot come to a heart which is not penitent. Once that heart is ready to accept forgiveness, which takes humility, for it requires a turning away from self, God comes to us like the Father to the Prodigal Son, seeing him on the road “while he was still far off. The Father ran and put his arms around him and kissed him,” and did not even wait to hear his confession before he had been forgiven. (Luke 15:20)

During Jesus’ life on earth, he did not seek companionship with the sinless, but with those who opened themselves up most to his love, often by seeking his forgiveness. When dining at the house of righteous men, a sinful woman came in, washed his feet with perfume and dried them with her hair. (Luke 7:36-50) This gesture of love touched him more than any boast of righteousness the Pharisees in the house could make. Despite her sinful life, by coming to him, by offering herself to Love’s forgiveness, she is redeemed. Whatever good we may do, we always need forgiveness, and we always need Love. Sometimes it is the most sinful who recognizes most their need for forgiveness, while those who can take some pride for the good they have done, fail to offer themselves completely to Love’s reconciliation.

Nor did Jesus go out and seek the sick that he might heal them. Rather, they sought him because they believed in the healing power of his love. When healing, Jesus always linked not only faith, but forgiveness as the healing power, saying “Your faith has healed you,” and “Your sins are forgiven.” Even with the sick, it takes a turning away from self and pride to seek the healing power of forgiveness.

Within Love there is no pride. Pride only exists in selfishness. Our sense of justice would feel compromised by running out to meet such a prodigal, when we had been wronged so much. This was the reaction of the older son in the parable, but not the father. We have wronged God in the same way, and even in our sorrow we feel we should be made to suffer for what we have done. But Love is not interested in making us suffer. Love is interested in bringing us back. Love has no pride to remember the wrong done. Love has only desire for reconciliation.
We sometimes view forgiveness as a sentence lifted, as if we were found guilty in the court-room, but the judge mercifully suspended the sentence. But the only punishment comes when we remain in our sin. God forgives because his love is complete, and as soon as we turn from selfishness to live in love, we are living in God. (I John 4:16) This is not to make light of our wrongs, which grieve God and hurt ourselves, but to point out that love surpasses all sin. We simply need to accept it. St. Augustine says, God forgives, “not as though he found nothing to punish, but because he found something to forgive.” (Sermon LXIV, 4)

God is heartbroken by our plight. He wants nothing more than to reach out and bring us back into communion with him through forgiveness, but we must allow him to come near us. First we must turn away from sin, for Love cannot be in communion with sin.

Revisiting the tale of the Prodigal Son, when the son had gone out into the world of his sin, the father could not come to him. If he had seen the father following him away from the house he would have traveled faster. If he had seen the father coming after him in the towns of his debauchery, he would have been angry and embarrassed. Even if the father had come to him as he fed the swine as a slave, he would have hidden from him in shame. The father’s heart was never unwilling to forgive. He sat at home longing for the son’s return. But only when the son came back, reaching out for the love he had severed, could the father’s dream of forgiveness come true.

In the same way, Jesus could not give his love and forgiveness to those who did not open themselves up to hear his message. That was why, if it was the sinners who came to him for the gift of love, he gave it freely, but the rich, the proud and the arrogant would not accept his love. He refused his love to no one. He even entered into communion with the Pharisees, when they sought him, as did Simon (Luke 7) and Nicodemus (John 3). The point was that first the sinners, of which we can all count ourselves, had to lay down their pride and offer themselves to the gift of Love.

God longs for our reconciliation, but cannot order us back. We must turn first to him, and then he will come running toward us to embrace us on the road when we are still far off, for we were dead and have come to life; we were lost and have been found! (Luke 15:32)

The Vatican’s Recent Proclamation

I feel a quick word is needed on the recent proclamation put out by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith regarding questions to the true meaning of the Vatican II document LUMEN GENTIUM . The media, along with other Christian denominations, have been quick to lambast the Catholic Church for the perceived self-righteousness of this document, for it does indeed declare that the Catholic Church is the one “true” church.

While I am admittedly frustrated with Cardinal Levada and the Holy Father’s choice to release this document at this time, particularly when ecumenism is so fragile, I would encourage you to read The Document Itself , rather than trusting the twisted reports the media is putting on it. While it does indeed address “defects” in the schismatic church, the document reaffirms the words of the council, that these churches “are deprived neither of significance nor importance in the mystery of salvation. In fact the Spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as instruments of salvation, whose value derives from that fullness of grace and of truth.” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 3.4) This is a far more open minded view-point than most Protestant denominations have of Catholicism.

Thus, be encouraged to continue with every effort for ecumenical dialogue and prayer amongst Christians, knowing that the Vatican does support such efforts. There is, however, much more work to be done on both sides.

On Temptation

“The [devil] acts like a false lover, insofar as he tries to remain secret and undetected. For such a scoundrel, speaking with evil intent and trying to seduce the daughter of a good father or the wife of a good husband, wants his words and solicitations to remain secret. But he is deeply displeased when the daughter reveals his deceitful words and evil designs to her father, or the wife to her husband. For he easily infers that he cannot succeed in the design he began.

“In a similar manner, when the [devil] turns his wiles and persuasions upon an upright person, he intends and desires them to be received and kept in secret. But when the person reveals them to his or her good confessor or some other spiritual person who understands the enemy’s deceits and malice, he is grievously disappointed. For he quickly sees that he cannot succeed in the malicious projects he began, because his manifest deceptions have been detected.”

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So wrote St. Ignatius of Loyola in his Spiritual Exercises (#326, 1548). We often feel like the virtuous daughter and good wife of the parable, and are shy to reveal our temptations, making us more likely to succumb to them. But by exposing the tempter as an imposter, a false lover, we take away his might, and invoke the aid of our spiritual community.

St. Ignatius recommends the council of a good confessor, or other spiritual mentor, but we are often guilty of attempting to hide our temptations from God himself. Sometimes we are embarrassed to admit feeling tempted by certain sins. If we can face the temptation within ourselves, recognizing the potential for sin even without committing it, and praying for help in avoiding it, we have taken away the devil’s intended secrecy, and set ourselves on the road to virtue.

The women in the parable are embarrassed to admit the false lover’s advances to father and husband, but there should be no shame in revealing the danger. Otherwise, she is all alone. Similarly we will be alone against the devil unless we admit our temptation to our Heavenly Father. God cannot come to our aid until we ready ourselves for it. If we willingly listen to the seduction of sin, we block out God’s help. There is a thin line between ignoring temptation and actually desiring the sin. Sometimes in our human weakness we tread that line. By asking God for strength to resist, we make a pledge of intention. The temptation may persist, but we have made a clear preference for righteousness.

The current generation of Catholics have become somewhat lax in making confession. We take comfort in prayers of general contrition at mass, or perhaps fulfill our obligation by going to confession once a year. Many priests too, fail to stress the importance of confession with regard to anything less than mortal sin. But confession is more than an obligation, and it is more than a sacrament. Confession is also an opportunity for spiritual encouragement, where not only sins committed, but sins tempted, can be shared and prayed for. By bringing temptation before our confessor, we are like the woman of St. Ignatius’ parable, telling her father or husband about the false lover who is harassing her. The prayers of the priest and the aid of God confront the devil, taking away his secrecy and protecting the victim from his snares. An additional benefit to confessing temptations is that it gives an aspect of accountability. Who would want to have to admit to succumbing to a sin which the priest was diligently praying you would avoid? The shame alone would be sufficient penance.

So I would encourage you Christians not to be embarrassed and dismayed by temptation, but to confront it. Take away the devil’s secrecy by invoking the help of God. And do not shun the sacrament of penance, for it can give profound strength and encouragement, both to avoid sin and to avoid temptation, which is the near occasion of sin.

Veneration of the Cross

This Good Friday, I want to wish you the love of God which is proven to an astonishing degree this day. While Christmas and Easter celebrate Jesus’ glorious incarnation and resurrection, it is on Good Friday that we really see what kind of God we worship–a God who suffered unimaginable pain and torture for us.

Singing in the St. James Cathedral choir during the veneration of the cross, I am always struck this day by what the crucifixion means. We so often complain about the strees and suffering of our lives, or ask questions such as “Why does God allow such horrible things to happen in our world?” The cross does not answer all those questions, but it certainly shows that Jesus can empathize with our suffering, for he has faced suffering much worse than our own. Whenever we feel weighed down by our pain, depression or loneliness, we can remember that Jesus was betrayed and abandoned by his friends, ridiculed, laughed at, and then executed. He can understand everything we suffer, because he has endured it as well.

On Good Friday we reflect more deeply on the words from our creed “Crucifixus etiam pro nobis.” What this phrase says is not just that Christ died for us, but that Christ is still dying for us. Christ’s love for us is so great that our suffering is his suffering, our pain is his pain, and our death is his death. When we venerate the cross on Good Friday we acknowledge our appreciation for what Christ did and continues to do for us.

On Easter we celebrate Christ’s glory, but it is on Good Friday that Christ proves his remarkable love.

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This reflection appeared in the March issue of In Your Midst, the St. James Cathedral newsletter.

MESSAGE FOR LENT

Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

At the beginning of this season of lent, let me encourage you to take the meaning of this time to heart. Though lent is often remembered as a time of personal sacrifice, our focus being on what we give up, we should also remember that it is a time of action, a time for us to focus more diligently on our prayer and our works of charity for the poor. Lent is a time for us to stand in solidarity with the poor and suffering of the world. Through fasting and sacrifice, we remember those who have less. But more important than this is to turn our own sacrifices to work, aiding the poor in our midst with our charity, compassion and love.