Friday, April 5, 2019

Sin, Mercy, and Friendship with God


Some Additional Comments

Sin

I would like us to examine our views on “sin.” In today’s world, many people think of sin in religious terms only or they don’t even know the word, but they do have a sense of right and wrong, good and bad. In our Catholic understanding, we have been taught that we are sinful people and God sent Jesus to redeem us. The Church taught us that we sin against God and others in many different ways, and we assembled lists that we bring into the confessional. We think of sin as something we did or did not do.

During the last century, we became aware of social sin or even national or international sin. These are enormous realities in which we feel we have little power to effect any change. For example, we may work for a corporation that invests in another company that has disreputable business practice that we consider wrong. How do we seek the sacrament of reconciliation? The complexity of our world has changed; our understanding of sinfulness is not that simple anymore.

Jesus says the sin comes from the attitudes that we hold. Sin comes from inside us, which is the reason we must always form and inform our consciences. Our understanding of sin has to mature. A contemporary way to define sin is to say that sin is a failure to even try to love another person. It is in the “not even bothering to care.” It is not about getting it right or wrong, missing the mark, not understanding enough; it is about not even bothering to care.

This definition can change the way we think and feel about ourselves. We have to see ourselves as people who are loved by God and as people who need to reconcile our relationship with God and others. God has already forgiven our sins – once and for all. It is time for us to live in the realm of the resurrection.


Video: Celebrating What’s Right with the World

Dewitt Jones, a former National Geographic Reporter, put together a film and TEDx talk called “Celebrating What’s Right with the World.” Sometimes we need to put on a fresh lens so we can see the beauty that is before us in the “here and now.” I recommend viewing at least one of these films because it mirrors a Jesuit, Catholic perspective on the world. The Spiritual Exercises help us to see and love the world the way God sees and loves the world.




Mercy

Cardinal Walter Kasper writes in his book Mercy, “mercy is the best thing we can feel. It changes the world… it changes everything… makes the world feel less cold and more just.” Mercy means to enter into the suffering, the chaos, of another person. Pope Francis goes so far to say the Mercy is the name of God, and mercy is at the heart of all relationships.

Mercy is shown at the Incarnation (God chose to be with us) and at the Paschal Mystery (love is revealed in the depths of suffering.) The mission of Jesus was to reveal the mystery of God’s love in its fullness. God searches for us to give us mercy we do not deserve. Because of the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit allows us to face directly life’s problems and illnesses, our world’s wars and tragedies, and not to be overwhelmed by them, because nothing is outside the reach of the resurrection – even death itself.

Mercy is not just a response to human sin. It is, more generally, God’s tender and compassionate response to the human condition in all its complexity, brokenness, and beauty. Mercy is a love that creates, heals, reconciles, and makes all things whole.

The Church’s primary task is to introduce everyone to the great mystery of God’s mercy by contemplating the face of Christ. What we say and how we say it; our every word and gesture, out to express God’s compassion, tenderness, and forgiveness for all.

As we give mercy, we are transformed by it. The church can be transformed by it. Mercy is God’s way of changing the world, transforming us. Mercy is the kingdom of heaven. We are merciful when we just show up for another person. We don’t have to do anything. We don’t have to say anything. We just have to metaphorically hold the person in honor before us.

Friendship with God

Jesuits speak about our life with God as one of friendship. Our name means “The Company of Jesus,” that is, those who choose to be with him in friendship. This friendship develops in stages because we are not static and God is not static. We go through a period of infatuation, curiosity, discovery and play, further exploration, and then we come to a point of testing. We might have to reveal something to God that we fear God may not like. Once we reveal this fear to God, God typically responds with mercy and acceptance, and our bonds are strengthen. We learn to trust God more and more and we become more authentic in our interactions with God. We say what is on our minds more freely, we love God more freely, and we speak to one another as friends do.

God does not want us to suffer but to have the fullness of life. Our work as ‘friends in the Lord’ is to live more fully in that freedom and to receive and give mercy to ourselves so we can give it to others freely and generously. I invite you to begin to explore the nuances and depths of this relationship – for the salvation of your soul – and for your happiness today.

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