30th Sunday. The Happy Priest: I am a Sinner, You are a Sinner.

The Pharisee in this Sunday's gospel narrative did not go to the temple to pray but to tell God how good he was.  His pride did not allow him to recognize his own sinfulness. The tax collector, on the other hand, acknowledged that he had sinned.  His humility allowed him to live in the truth.

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX (Catholic Online) - Time-lapse photography compresses a series of events into one picture. Such a photo appeared in an issue of National Geographic. Taken from a Rocky Mountain peak during a heavy thunderstorm, the picture captured the brilliant lightning display that had taken place throughout the storm's duration. The time-lapse technique created a fascinating, spaghetti-like web out of the individual bolts. In such a way, our sin presents itself before the eyes of God. Where we see only isolated or individual acts, God sees the overall web of our sinning. What may seem insignificant to us and passes with hardly any notice taken, creates a much more dramatic display from God's panoramic viewpoint.

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit He saves.  The Lord redeems the lives of his servants; no one incurs guilt who takes refuge in him" (Psalm 34: 18, 22).
What is sin? Man calls it an accident; God calls it an abomination. Man calls it a defect; God calls it a disease. Man calls it an error; God calls it an enmity. Man calls it a liberty; God calls it lawlessness. Man calls it a trifle; God calls it a tragedy. Man calls it a mistake; God calls it madness. Man calls it a weakness; God calls it willfulness.

"But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, 'O God, be merciful to me a sinner'" (Luke 18: 12-13).

The virtue of humility permits us to live before God as we truly are.  We are sinful creatures.  The first step in our relationship with God is that we understand and acknowledge that we are sinful creatures.It opens the door to freedom. 

Peter knelt before Jesus and said "Depart from me for I am a sinful man."  Mary Magdalen wept at the feet of Jesus and dried her tears with her hair.  The Roman centurion told Jesus that he was not worthy that he should enter his home. 

The recognition of our own sinfulness allows us to experience the mercy of God.
 
The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives us a concise definition of sin. "Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law" (CCC #1849).
 
Scripture teaches that actual sin is classified as either a mortal sin or a venial sin. "There is a sin that leads to death." (1 John 5:16).  "Every kind of wickedness is sin, but not all sin leads to death" (1John 5:17).
 
Mortal sin is forgiven through the Sacrament of Confession. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches: "Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance. All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession." (CCC #1456).
 
However, it must be understood that the frequent confession of our venial sins is also essential for our continued spiritual growth and development. 
 
Just like all the other sacraments of the Church, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Confession.  The Church has always understood the Scriptural reference for the Sacrament of Confession to be John 20: 22-23: "Receive the Holy Spirit.  For those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; for those whose sins you retain, they are retained".
 
It is necessary to go to Confession on a regular basis. Confession makes perfect sense when we accept ourselves as we are.  Only the humble live in the truth, and only the humble understand the need that they have for God in their lives. 
 
The acceptance of our own sinfulness also allows us to understand that salvation is not a guaranteed reality.  We can end up losing our souls, and being separated from God, that is hell.  We have to struggle every day to be faithful, and we need to use the means that the Church gives us in order to persevere in the life of grace.
 
The Pharisee in this Sunday's gospel narrative did not go to the temple to pray.  He wanted to tell God how good he was.  His pride did not allow him to recognize his own sinfulness. The tax collector, on the other hand, acknowledged that he had sinned.  His humility allowed him to live in the truth. 
 
The pervasive attitude among many Catholics that sin and the Sacrament of Confession are things of the past is a real tragedy.  Here is an illustration that will help us understand what sin does to us.
 
A man purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the unsuspecting mouse into the snake's glass cage, where the snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust. The tiny mouse had a serious problem on his hands. At any moment he could be swallowed alive. Obviously, the mouse needed to come up with a brilliant plan.

What did the terrified creature do?

He quickly set up work covering the snake with sawdust chips until it was completely buried. With that, the mouse apparently thought he had solved his problem.

The solution, however, came from outside. The man took pity on the silly little mouse and removed him from the cage. Thus, no matter how hard we may try to cover or to deny our sinful nature, it's fool's work. Sin will eventually awaken from sleep and shake off its cover. Were it not for the saving grace of the Master's hand, sin would eat us alive.

"O God, be merciful to me a sinner".
________________
Acknowledgements
http://www.christianglobe.com

Father James Farfaglia, the Happy Priest, is the pastor of Saint Helena of the True Cross of Jesus Catholic Church in Corpus Christi, Texas.  Father has a hard hitting blog called Illegitimi non carborundum.  He has also published a book called Man to Man: A Real Priest Speaks to Real Men about Marriage, Sexuality and Family Life.  You can contact Father at fjficthus@gmail.com.  You can click here for the audio podcast of this Sunday homily.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'

Copyright 2021 - Distributed by Catholic Online