Let’s Talk Sin
In the Gospel today, we hear strong teaching about sin. “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.” That is tough stuff if we take it literally. And, if we take it literally, the world would be filled with one-eyed, one-handed, one-footed, and tongueless people. But we can all agree that isn’t what Jesus asks of us.
Jesus is calling us to root out sin in our lives at its very core. He is calling us to more than a recitation of a grocery list of sins in a confessional. He calls us to be deeply introspective. It is much easier to make a list than to look at the source of our sins.
Sin is when I fall out of a right relationship with God, other people, or myself. When things are misaligned in my life, that is a sin. When my relationship with God, others, or myself is out of sync, I need to stop, find, and fix the relationship.
It is not someone else’s responsibility to fix relationships. I can’t wait with my arms crossed, tapping my foot for God to swoop down, perform some miracle, answer a prayer, and repair my relationship with Him. Neither can I wait for family, friends, or loved ones to “come to their senses” and repair a hurt that has caused an estrangement in our relationship. First and foremost, sin is thinking about a situation, and the responsibility for the solution is someone else’s. That is hubris.
In a confessional or even in my heart, it is easier to say, “I took the name of the Lord in vain 7 times. I missed mass twice, and I didn’t pray most days.” It is harder to stop and look at my relationship with God and admit that I have abandoned God, in all but name only. It is hard to own that I doubt, and I have fallen out of love with God. Acknowledging that I have allowed my faith to become just going through the motions is painful.
It is easier to whisper in the anonymity of a confessional that I have cheated on my timesheet, taken money, spoken harshly to my family, or had an affair. Looking myself in the eye and the heart and admitting that I have been selfish, mean, and inconsiderate is much more sobering. It is harder to admit I think I am more important than others and have put my wants and needs ahead of everyone else’s.
So often, the entire area of sinning against ourselves is lost entirely. When we think about sin, we don’t think about how we sin against our very being created in God’s image and likeness. Gluttony in any form is a sin against self. My abuse of alcohol, drugs, sex, food, fasting, steroids, and anything else with which we knowingly harm our bodies is a sin. Our self-flagellation for wrongs we have done and refusal to forgive ourselves is a sin. If God can forgive, how dare we be so arrogant as not to forgive ourselves?
Putting myself down or holding back from using my gifts and talents is a sin. Retreating into myself, even when I know another is in need, is also a sin.
We need not cut off our hands or pluck out our eyes. Jesus asks us to excise the attitudes behind our actions from our hearts and souls.
When we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, we go with our souls bared of the attitudes that pull us from being in the right relationship with God, others, and ourselves. We will then have not just confession and absolution but the grace to do the work of reconciliation. We will have a new beginning that allows for healing relationships outside the confessional. This is the true grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is living absolution.
In God’s Unending Love,
Gwen
