Friends in Christ, in reading through the Old Testament, you will read there about the great Patriarch Jacob, and there were two important events that happened to him. One was, that a Jacob met what seemed to be a man who wrestled with him, but he said, ‘You have wrestled with God and man.’ It was a mysterious event, but many believe this was a foreshadowing of Christ.
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The other event that happened to Jacob, is that one night he had a dream of a stairway or a ladder that reached up to heaven; angels were ascending and descending this stairway. It was a connection between heaven and earth. That is where we get the idea of ‘Stairway to heaven.’ It is also called a ‘ladder,’ as in ‘Jacob’s Ladder.’
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But on this Saturday of Our Blessed Mother, I thought we could take for our meditation today, some thoughts from St. John Damascene[i] on these events. Speaking to Mary he says, ‘Mary, you are that ladder by which God comes down to us, assuming the weakness of our nature.’
‘If Jacob’s wrestling with a God-Man symbolizes Jesus, then he says, the Ladder symbolizes Mary, by means of which God comes down to earth.
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He writes: ‘Through her, the long warfare waged with the Creator has been ended. Grace and peace were granted to us, so that men and angels are united in the same choir, and we have become sons of God. Mary became Mediatrix of all blessings, and in her, God became man, and man became God.’
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There are many signs of Mary in the Old Testament; she is the Woman who will crush the head of the serpent; she is Jael and Judith who defeated the enemies of the People of God. John Damascene back in the year 750 believed that Jacob’s Ladder anticipates this Divine Mother by whom heaven will come down to earth, that is, Jesus.
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This Mother wishes always to bring Jesus down to us, we must only turn from our foolish sins, begin again, and put ourselves under her Motherly protection. St. John Damascene speaks for us when he says: ‘What is sweeter than the mother of my God? She has taken my mind captive; she has taken possession of my heart; she is on my mind day and night.
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[i] Mary and the Fathers of the Church, p. 405-8
Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Although St. Thomas lived 800 years ago, his books are the most important of all theology. In his short life, he wrote over 60 different works, such as the great Summa Theologica.
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Historians now know something of how his writings were composed: A group of 3 or 4 secretaries (usually monks), would take down what he said in a kind of short-hand. Sometimes Thomas would write down his thoughts first, and then proceed to read this aloud, as the secretaries wrote. When one secretary tired, another took over. It seems however that later on, and in the case of his major works, he never wrote anything down beforehand, but that they came straight from his remarkable memory.
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There is related a story that shows how he operated: Thomas had been invited to a large dinner in honor of King Louis XI; they seated Thomas right next to the king; but during all of the festivities, Thomas’ mind was elsewhere; he was pondering a theology question, a challenge posed by a heretical group called the Manichees. Suddenly, during the gaiety of the dinner, he struck his hand on the table, saying: ‘Yes! that will settle it with the Manichees!’ He immediately called for his secretary to write it down – as if he were still back in the monastery.
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On another occasion, when he was trying to write his commentary on Isaiah, Thomas became puzzled for days over a certain text. One night, he stayed up late to pray extra, and his secretary overheard him speaking with other persons in his cell. Then Thomas called for his secretary: “Reginald, my son, bring a light and the commentary on Isaiah; I want you to write.’ As Reginald wrote, the ideas were so clear from Thomas, that it was as if he were reading from a book. He pressured St. Thomas to tell him, who were the voices in his room? Thomas finally replied that St. Peter and Paul had been sent to him, “and they told me what I desired to know.”
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Research seems to show that the entire Summa Theologica was composed mentally and dictated from memory. It is said that when St. Thomas dictated it was “as if a great torrent of truth were pouring into him from God, as his memory simply gave out its treasures. “When perplexed by a difficulty he would kneel and pray; and then his thought would be clear again.
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One of his secretaries, named Evan, told how Thomas would sometimes sit down to rest from the work of dictating; falling asleep, he would continue to dictate – in his sleep – and Evan would continue to write….
Friends in Christ, today we celebrate the Conversion of St. Paul.
In St. Paul, we find a man who was well-educated, having gone to the great school of Gamaliel. By the time he finished Pharisee school, he was part of the effort to stop Christians. Scripture says that he was ‘breathing murderous threats against the disciples of the Lord.’ He would go house to house, dragging out Christians and shipping them off in chains to Jerusalem. It was St. Paul who oversaw the stoning of Stephen and he was very pleased about it.
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We think of such a man, who had such great stature and education, and yet, who had become an arch-enemy of Christ? But we should not be scandalized by this. There is an expression, ‘but for the grace of God, there go I.’ It means that each of us is also capable of doing great evil. And who knows, if we were in the circumstances of others, if God had not blessed us so much with grace, perhaps we would be just as bad.
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So what can we learn from St. Paul? One thing is, we can learn how our past sins – and we have them – we can see how our past sins can actually help us to love God more. When we think of our past sins, and then we think of how God has never given up on us, but has kept seeking and forgiving us – well – it makes us love him all the more.
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Seeing God’s mercy in our life, being full of gratitude, his allowing us to begin again and be forgiven – this makes us want to do anything for him. And this is what happened to St. Paul. Much was forgiven him, and so he poured himself out for Christ.
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One year I traveled the path of St. Paul with seminarians. From Antioch to Tarsus. Through Galatia, Pisidia, and Colossea; to Miletus, Troas, Philipi, Athens and Corinth and to Rome where Paul was martyred. This is rugged travel. We did it by car on good roads, St. Paul did it 2000 years ago! Traveling to bring the gospel up steep cliffs, through rain, cold, and dangers.
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St. Paul did this for Christ, because of gratitude. Because he had been forgiven so much. St. Paul says: 3 times I was whipped, once I was stoned, 3 times shipwrecked. Sleepless nights, hunger and thirst and constant anxiety for the Lord’s Church. Here is a man who had much to make up for, but because of God’s mercy, he went to the ends of the earth.
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Jesus once said, he who is forgiven much, loves much. We therefore should love Him with all our heart, because Lord knows, we have been forgiven much.
Friends in Christ, today is a Saturday of Our Lady, and so I thought today we could consider something that Adrienne von Speyr mentions in her book about Mary.
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During the past Christmas season, we reflected on that encounter between Mary and the angel Gabriel; Mary responded with an expression of humility: ‘I am the maidservant of the Lord, may it be done unto me according to Thy word.’ Adrienne Von Speyr says, Mary places herself at the service of God. She does not put any limitations on this service.
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Part of her obedience to the Lord will be in the daily matters of the household, her work in the home of Joseph, and all the dealings with relatives and neighbors. The Blessed Virgin makes no distinctions between her service owed to heaven and that of doing God’s will on earth; love of God and love of neighbor merge into ‘one love of God;’ really, she is now carrying heaven within herself: Jesus.
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In fancy homes where they have servants or maids, the owner of the house first shows her all the rooms and chests; the linens and the washing, the stove and so on. Once she is able to understand the home and her duties, in a sense, she knows her employer’s thoughts and wishes, and she wants to carry them out.
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Mary is this way, because she has come to know the thoughts and priorities of her Son, and so she gives of herself in his service. It is true, most maids or house servants only work a limited schedule with limited responsibilities; but Mary’s service to her Son is total and unlimited; she knows that she must be flexible as she serves her Son’s changing needs.
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For example, the desires of her Son Jesus change according to his age; in his Infancy, she tended to his little, physical needs. When Christ lived his public life, Mary served one way, at the Cross another, and in the early Church she tended to the Apostles and the concerns of her Lord’s early followers.
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But in these days, Mary’s service concerns her with the Living Body of Christ, with us; but this is not just in some general way, but in the particulars, with each individual disciple of Jesus.
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When we are little, we take for granted the service of our dear mothers, who mend our socks and wipe our face and make good food. Sometimes, when we are older, we are able to appreciate our mother, and we see how, in all those little acts of service – how she has won our heart.
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Mary is like that, serving us and concerning herself with the details of our life. And that is why we can never love and honor her enough.
Friends in Christ, today are the feasts of St. Sebastian and St. Fabian; these two martyrs have been celebrated together since ancient times.
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St. Fabian became Pope in the year 236. He governed the church for 14 years, and fought against a new heresy in Africa.
He was quite courageous; for example, when the Emperor requested to attend the Easter Vigil and to share in Holy Communion, the Pope told him that he would first have to admit his sins and become a member of the penitents; the penitents in those days were a group of people who were assigned penances, until they could be absolved of their sins. The Pope believed even Emperors had to live the Faith, just like everyone else.
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Fabian was concerned that as the years were passing, the records of the saints and the martyrs were not being written down. So he assigned 7 deacons to go out to all areas of the Church and collect the accounts and records of the martyrs. We are very indebted to him today for this effort.
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Pope Fabian established the practice of consecrating Chrism every year on Holy Thursday, which is still done today. He governed the Church during a time of relative peace, until a new Emperor appeared: Decius. Decius instituted a brutal persecution of the Church, and ordered the beheading of Pope Fabian. We still have today the stone that covered his tomb.
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His election as Pope is quite interesting. He was an ordinary citizen of Rome at the time, and when Pope Antherus died, and the people gathered for the election of the next Pope, Fabian went along with the crowd to see what the outcome might be. Lo and behold, a white dove flew in, and sat on Fabian’s head; this sign caused the clergy and the people to be filled with wonder, and so they chose him, though as a layman and a stranger they had no thought of him before. So he was ordained a priest, then bishop, then Pope!
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You and I do not know, on any given day or hour, when a ‘dove’ will land on our heads – that is, the Holy Spirit. The adventure of being a Christian is that God is full of surprises; would that we would be as docile to the surprises of the Holy Spirit as St. Fabian was. Therefore, when the Holy Spirit prompts us or surprises us, let us give him what he asks – and then he will ask for more!
Friends in the Lord, today in the first reading, we see that King Saul is in big trouble; what did he do? Well, ever since Israel had entered the Promised Land, they had to fight against a whole host of enemies; one of these enemies was the Amalekites.
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Saul had been commanded by God to exterminate them. All of them! But he did not follow this order; when his army conquered them, he spared the leader, Agag. Samuel then says to Saul, ‘The Lord sent you on a mission to exterminate the Amalekites, but you have disobeyed.’ ‘Therefore the Lord has torn the kingdom from you this day.’ Then Samuel said, bring Agag, the king of Amalek to me. And he cut down Agag.’
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Friends, this is the context of today’s 1st reading, and we may feel revulsion at this gory scene and God’s order to exterminate them. But these things were recorded as spiritual lessons for us. Of the Old Testament, St. Paul will say, ‘all these things happened to them as examples, they are written for our correction.’ (1 Cor 10:11, Rom 15:4) So much of the Old Testament is full of types and symbols pointing to the New Testament. And the New Testament interprets the Old.
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When Israel entered the Promised Land, it was through the Jordan River, and this is a ‘type’ or sign of our baptism. Once baptized, we are consecrated to the Lord. But like Israel, we find ourselves surrounded by powerful enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil – enemies outside of us, and enemies within us.
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The Holy Scriptures are teaching us a very important spiritual lesson about this war that we are in:
‘do not in any way compromise with the enemy;
‘in no way allow any of your enemies to live,
‘they must be exterminated.
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We can ask the recovering alcoholic how it works, if he just has a little sip of whiskey – NOT. We can ask the drug addict if he can handle ‘just a little bit’ of dope; it doesn’t work. Ask the person struggling against pornography if he can really allow just a little lust in his mind – no! We must utterly exterminate our enemies. Mercilessly.
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More than the addicts, we all must be on our guard because the Amalekites that attack us can be more subtle and cunning than drugs or whiskey. Such addicts know their enemy at least; but for us, the worry is those hidden enemies within, that keep hanging around. Gossip and greed and sloth and a host of others lurk in us like viruses. We cannot ‘sort of tolerate them.’ We must wage all-out war.
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St. Hesychios says, use the name of Jesus to lash your enemies, as flashes of lighting repeat over and over in the sky. Wage war; and as to a hostile thought? Strike it down angrily, curse it, invoking Jesus.
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Spiritual warfare is part of our daily life, so let us fight our enemies to the death.
Beloved in Jesus Christ, some people I know, like to read the whole Bible from start to finish, it may take a year to do it; if you do that, you will notice something interesting: the bible begins with a marriage, and ends with a marriage. For example, in the beginning, there, is Adam his wife Eve – the first married couple. Then at the very end of the bible in the Book of Revelation, we read of a great marriage between the ‘Lamb’, Jesus Christ, and his Bride, the Church.
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This image of a marriage, we will find, winds it’s way through the whole story of our salvation. In fact, the prophets[i] often spoke of God’s relationship to his people as that of a Bridegroom and his Bride. They said that because the people had wandered after false gods and sin, unfaithful to the Lord, they were like an unfaithful Bride. But the message was always the same: God will not give up on us.
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The story of our salvation therefore, is the story of the Bridegroom who comes down from heaven to rescue his bride and bring her to his home in heaven. That is why Jesus is called the Bridegroom many times; and that is why the Church is called the Bride of Christ.
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Today in the Gospel, we encounter Jesus at the beginning of his public life, and interestingly, he is there at – a wedding! The way that St. John writes his gospel is very interesting. He says that at Cana, it is a wedding; he doesn’t mention who the bride or groom are, but he does mention Jesus, and Mary and the Apostles. The 12 apostles represent the Church, and we know that Mary is a sign of the Church.
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Christ will do then his first miracle, he will change water into wine. Now it seems that he had not intended to do this miracle; Mary tells him: ‘Son, they are out of wine!’ But Our Lord responds: ‘My hour has not yet come.’ The hour for miracles hasn’t come yet – nevertheless, his mother thinks it’s time. She tells the servants: ‘Just do whatever he tells you.’ And so, Our Lord does change water into wine.
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On Christmas we celebrated the coming of the Savior into the world; today we see this Wedding, which really shows us that the Bridegroom, Jesus, has come down from heaven for us – for his Bride, the Church.
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In ancient times, when there would be an engagement for marriage, the groom went over to the bride’s house for a meeting. The agreement to marry was finally decided when the groom poured – a cup of wine. At Cana, Mary speaks for the Apostles, the Church; ‘They have no wine,’ she says. Does the Groom pour a cup of wine, to agree with the marriage? Not just a cup. Jesus, produces 150 gallons of miraculous wine!
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What can we learn from Cana? First, we see that Jesus is the Bridegroom of our soul, and what will a groom not do for his dear spouse? He will go to any extreme to help us. In many old prayers and prayer books, they often spoke of Jesus as ‘the Bridegroom of the soul,’ emphasizing this nuptial intimacy between our heart and Christ’s; I think we should still pray this way sometimes.
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The Lord loves each faithful soul as if it were alone in the world, and if the person is willing, this Groom will make his Spouse as beautiful as possible, with graces and blessings. Jesus knows each one of us individually and he desires our salvation. He came and died for you and for me. There is not one detail of our life which was not foreseen by this Divine Bridegroom. As Psalm 139 says: ‘Oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I stand…. you knit me together in my mother’s womb.’
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Our Beloved knows everything about us from even before we were made, and he is working for our good, seeking us out, assisting each of us in every action of life. Fr. Joseph Schryvers says:[ii] For those who seek the Lord, God’s effort toward us knows no limits. He will use every event in our life, every difficulty, even our own weaknesses, to our advantage; no obstacle can stop him from guiding us – if we seek him. Jesus the Bridegroom therefore is working to save us and sanctify us 24 hours a day; all that is needed is that we say yes to his proposal, and throw ourself into his arms.
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This is the first message of the wedding at Cana. The other is this: Christ has given us a Mother to speak on our behalf. A Mother who intercedes for us. Our non-Catholic friends sometimes say, ‘why do you pray to Mary?’ ‘Why do you ask her to help you?’ I say: ‘I don’t know! Ask the Bible! Ask God, he gave her to us! Maybe Jesus wants to share his glory with his Mom; maybe Jesus wants people to love and call on his Mother? On earth, good sons love it when people praise their mother, and they listen to the desires of their mother. Good sons do that.
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St. Alphonsus says, that when Mary asked for the water to be made wine, it seemed that the time for miracles had not yet come, for Jesus said, ‘my hour has not yet come?’ And yet Mary, as if the favor had already been granted, told the attendants to do whatever he said. But how could this be? The time for working miracles seemed to not be part of the Divine Plan of God. Yet from all eternity, God had also decreed, that nothing should ever be refused from the Mother of Christ. Mary will intercede with Jesus on our behalf.
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In Germany there was a man who fell into serious sin; because of shame, he was unwilling to confess it, tormented in his conscience, he thought of ending his life. That night, in his sleep, he felt a lady shake his arm, and heard a voice say: ‘go to confession.’ The next night, he again heard the same voice calling him. He went to the Church, yet in his stubbornness, he said he’d rather die than confess that sin. But before going home he prayed before an image of the Blessed Virgin. No sooner had he knelt down, than he found himself quite changed. He immediately arose, called a priest and made an entire confession of his sins. He would often say, that he never felt such joy, as on that day.
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Cana teaches us that we should often go to Mary, because she will always bring us the blessings of Jesus.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Augustine]
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[i] Especially Isiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea
[ii] The Gift of Oneself, p. 18
Friends in the Lord, in these days, our 1st reading continues to be from the Book of Samuel; today we witness a tragedy: the Israelites were under attack by their arch-enemy, the Philistines; they must fight. And so they decide that they would bring the Sacred Ark – the most sacred object of Israel – that contained the tablets of the 10 Commandments. They carried this golden ark into battle before them, knowing that then God would help them to be victorious. But shockingly, they were roundly defeated, and their enemies capture the Ark!
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In his Commentary on this passage, Bishop Knecht says that Israel thought that if they had the Ark with them, God would be sure to protect them. But how could the tablets of the Law in the Ark help them, if they no longer carried the law of God in their hearts? They should have first repented of their sins, then God would have been gracious to them.
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If we would go back and read in context, today’s story of defeat, we would see that the high priest Eli had been tolerating much wickedness; and his priest-sons were showing a lack of respect in the holy place of worship. The Lord did not bless them therefore, because they did not honor him. If we expect God to help us and bless us, our lives must be lived in faithfulness, with a real prayer life of worship, that honors the Lord.
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Even the Sacraments will not be of any help to us if we do not turn to the Lord and cast the false gods out of our life; our hearts must be Christian hearts. I was talking with the young people the other day about the sacrament of marriage, asking them questions. One was, ‘If people are in mortal sin at their wedding, do they receive the grace of the sacrament of marriage?’ The answer: no, they do not. Only if they repent of their sins and Confess will the grace of marriage revive in their souls.
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If a person receives Holy Communion with a lukewarm attitude, with no care of what he is doing, does he receive grace? no. nothing. This is why it is good to prayerfully prepare for Mass, and make a Thanksgiving after Holy Communion or after Mass. Just as that holy Ark was of no help to the Israelites against their enemies because of their empty religion, so too we will not receive God’s grace if we ourselves do not glorify Him.
Let us therefore bless the Lord in our souls, that he may bless us in our lives.
Baptism of the Lord
Beloved in the Lord, in olden days, the people of Israel, after Moses had led them out of the Egypt, they traveled many years through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. The Promised Land was a place said to be flowing with ‘milk and honey,’ meaning, a wonderful place of happiness.
But it would not be Moses who would lead them in; it would be Joshua who would lead them into the promised land. But they would have to cross the Jordan River to get there. So Joshua had the people prepare themselves, and then he ordered the priests to carry the Sacred Ark, and walk into the Jordan River. As they walked in, the waters actually stopped flowing; the dry river bed appeared, making a way for the people. The people therefore walked safely through the midst of the waters of the Jordan, into the Promised Land.
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Friends in Christ, these events of the Old Testament are recorded as signs for us. The Promised Land is a sign of heaven. And the passage through the Jordan river is a sign of baptism. As the passage through the water was necessary to reach the Promised Land, passage through the waters of baptism is the path to reach heaven. The ancient Father of the church Origen says, ‘the people passed through the Jordan and were baptized into Jesus, in the Spirit and in the river.’
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Who led them through this baptism in the river? Joshua did. And the name Joshua is really the same name in Greek as Jesus.
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We today celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Christ himself, who though sinless, chooses to be baptized as an example for us, to show us the way. Notice that when Our Lord is baptized, it says ‘the heavens were opened;’ and this is true of our own baptism. Baptism opens heaven for us, it makes it possible for us to begin the Christian life, the journey to heaven.
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Baptism immerses us into a share in the life of Jesus Christ. St. Paul says: Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too may live a new life.’
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God himself, has descended to earth to be born; the Son of God took humanity to himself, took on flesh; he lived our life. Jesus grew up like us, worked like us, suffered in his life; and he died and was buried. And he rose, to conquer death and ascended to heaven, to the true Promised Land.
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Well, we are supposed to do the same thing. By our baptism, we are united to the Divine life of God. As we go through life, we work and suffer and try to make our life an offering to God, just like Jesus. And we will die. But the Good News is, we will rise and conquer death, and ascend to heaven – just like Jesus. That’s the plan, and it all begins with our baptism, in which we share in the life of Christ.
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St. Thomas Aquinas says:[i] ‘By baptism a man is incorporated into the Passion and death of Christ, just as if he himself had suffered and died. Consequently, he who is baptized is freed from the debt of all punishment due for his sins, just as if he himself had offered satisfaction for all his sin.[ii]
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At our baptism, we were consecrated to God, and this happens even as a child. Some people say that we should not baptize children, that we should wait until they make their own decision, maybe you’ve heard this before. But what do the Holy Scriptures say? If we turn to Acts 16, we read that St. Paul met this woman named Lydia, and when she came to believe, it says, ‘she and her whole household were baptized.’ Her household – that’s everyone, that means kids, and people then had a lot of kids.
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In that very same chapter, it says that after Paul and Silas had explained the Faith to their jail guard, it says ‘he and his family were baptized immediately.’ So whole families were baptized. There is no waiting for kids to grow up. This is the Bible.
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In the year 215AD, in the very early Church, it explains what was already a well-established tradition. ‘Baptize first the children; if they can speak for themselves let them do so; otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them.’
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Why do we baptize kids? What would be the reason? In Colossians 2:11 it explains that Baptism replaces circumcision. Circumcision was the way into the Old Covenant, baptism is the way into the New Covenant. At what age were you circumcised? When you were 8 days old. That’s a baby! Did they wait until you were 12 to decide whether you wanted to be in the Covenant? No. Same in the New Covenant. Church law says: parents should have their child baptized within the first few weeks.
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Baptism is not ‘a decision to join a club, it is not a decision to join an organization. Baptism is adoption. We are adopted into God’s Family. And when you adopt a baby, you don’t leave the baby outside on the lawn until it is old enough to decide whether to join your family. It needs the family in order to live. Well – we want eternal life for our children, so we baptize the child into God’s family. It’s what Lydia did, its what the jail-guard did, it’s what the first Christians did. We take very seriously what Our Lord has said: ‘Go forth and baptize all the nations.’
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At our baptism, we were consecrated to God. And so many times we have renewed this commitment to be a follower of Christ, to be a disciple. Our life HAS to reflect this. Every time we bless ourselves with Holy Water we are reminding ourselves of our baptism – and so, the sprinkling rite today.
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Today then, let us renew our commitment to Jesus Christ; let us really live out our baptismal vows in the days ahead. There are only two roads for us: one to heaven, the other to hell.
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A young man told me, he had really messed up his life, he was not living right. He went to confession, and the priest told him: ‘Maybe it’s time to start living out your baptismal vows.’ He was startled by that. He had not been realizing that he had a serious commitment to be a disciple of Christ.
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Let’s us renew those vows. Decide again, that we reject Satan, and all his empty promises. No more compromise for us; no more giving in to the world; no more compromise.
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May the Blessed Virgin help us by her prayers; Mary, pray for us, that we will be worthy disciples of Jesus Christ.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton]
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[i] Summa, Q 69 a1
[ii] He adds: ‘The pains of Christ’s passion are communicated to the person baptized inasmuch as he is made a member of Christ, just as if he himself had borne those pains.’
Friends in Christ, in the Epistle today, we read from the 1st Letter of St. John. Our translation is one, but here is another: ‘If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. But there is sin which is mortal.’
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So it is clear from the Holy Scriptures, that there is mortal sin. Some translations call it ‘deadly sin,’ – same thing. There are two types of sin which we can commit: mortal sin, and venial sin. Mortal sins are serious sins against the law of God. They are called ‘mortal,’ or ‘deadly,’ because they kill the life of grace in our soul. Venial sin is a less serious offense against the Lord, which does not however, deprive us of sanctifying grace.
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Sin is best understood in terms of our relationship with God, which is really what the spiritual life is all about. If a boy disobeys his mother and does not set the table, this is a venial sin. It disappoints his mother, but their love remains. But if that boy in an argument would punch his mother; well – this would be a serious break in their love, and somebody would have to apologize big time. So too with God.
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Venial sins can be healed in us in a variety of ways. We tell the Lord we are sorry, we say an act of contrition; the grace of Holy Mass, receiving Holy Communion forgives venial sins according to our devotion and desire; praying the rosary or other prayers, acts of Faith – in a variety of ways, we are always renewing our love for the Lord, and being healed of the many venial sins we commit each day.
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Mortal sin requires a real apology, repentance, and forgiveness, so we must go to Confession. In confession the priest speaks for Christ and for the whole Church; he needs to reconcile us with the Church, because serious wounds harm the whole Body of Christ. In the early Church, people had to stand in front of the whole congregation and confess their serious sins; they would be given an often difficult penance that might last weeks or months. Today the Church makes it easier for us; we can even confess behind the screen.
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When we commit mortal sin, we lose all the merits of all the good actions we have ever done because we’ve turned from God. So, with mortal sin, we must be reconciled in confession, but then all of our former merits are restored.
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For something to be a mortal sin, the action must first of all, be a SERIOUS one. Secondly, we must KNOW that it is a serious sin, and finally, we must FREELY CHOOSE to do it, we can’t commit sin in our sleep. Mortal sins would include any sexual related sins, skipping Mass, hatred, serious theft or lies, really damaging someone’s reputation, and other things. Confession is the place to be reconciled, and to begin new.
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We ourselves should try to not commit even venial sins, so as to always please our Heavenly Father.
Let us then take our relationship with God seriously; and let not anyone tell you that there is no such thing as mortal sin – it’s in the bible!
