Whenever we think of sin, we usually have the Ten Commandments in mind as our benchmark as to how we measure up to God's holiness. It is the Law of God that the soul that sins must die. The person who does not seek a Savior does not understand the nature of sin in their existence. It is the function of God's Law to bring to our awareness in mind and conscience that we have fallen before a Holy God. The Law is given in the 20th chapter of the book of Exodus. The first commandment is simple...You shall have no other gods before me.
Jesus affirmed the lawyer's answer in Luke 10:27 about the most important commandment. It really sums up the first four commandments. You shall love your God with all your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind. Unfortunately, there is no concrete way of measuring this for success. It is the first thing I say whenever I do reconciliation. As much as I try, I do not have the strength to give God everything I have all day long. I know I fail Jesus' words here.
Back to the first commandment however...many of us have many strange gods...the most common being money. Whatever we place in a higher position of God can be that. Who gets our time and attention? God or the Packers, God or our stomachs, T.V., computers, boyfriend or girlfriend, alcohol, drugs...you name it, if it is something we replace God in importance with, it is a strange god. Vince Lombardi had it right when he said to his players...men, there are three things important in your life...your God, your family, and the Green Bay Packers...in that order. God wants us to realize...nothing on this earth will get you to heaven and eternal life but God Himself in Jesus Christ. We can truly only find comfort in God. The term comfort food is like that false God that provides comfort for a brief time but ultimate destruction. We pray that we honor God and God only.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Sin and love?
One of the things I have noticed while doing the Sacrament of Reconciliation, is how unaware most people are of what exactly their sins are. There are some who have a keen awareness of their spiritual poverty and many who have a real problem articulating more than a couple of items. In truth, if we really knew how often a day we really sin, it would be a jaw-dropping realization for us.
We have the Ten Commandments, our sins of omission, and our social sin that I would like to focus on the next 12 weeks. We really cannot fathom the unbelievable mystery of God's mercy and forgiveness without understanding how sinful we truly are. It is good to understand the passage of Luke 7:36-50 where Jesus tells the Pharisee those who are forgiven more also love more and those who are forgiven little, love less. It sounds like Jesus is telling us that the realization of how much we sin can bring an increase in our love for God.
Guilt, and especially Catholic guilt many seem to suffer from, can consume us but Jesus is not interested in burdening us with guilt; just the unbelievable offer of mercy and forgiveness. Guilt is a byproduct and judgement for sin, but when confessed should no longer hinder us. Guilt after confessing to God our sin is really and indicator that we lack trust that God really forgives us in the first place. Jesus' last words in this passage are "your faith has saved you; go in peace." We need to take these words to heart and accept that God has forgiven us in Christ and if we faithfully confess, God faithfully forgives.
We have the Ten Commandments, our sins of omission, and our social sin that I would like to focus on the next 12 weeks. We really cannot fathom the unbelievable mystery of God's mercy and forgiveness without understanding how sinful we truly are. It is good to understand the passage of Luke 7:36-50 where Jesus tells the Pharisee those who are forgiven more also love more and those who are forgiven little, love less. It sounds like Jesus is telling us that the realization of how much we sin can bring an increase in our love for God.
Guilt, and especially Catholic guilt many seem to suffer from, can consume us but Jesus is not interested in burdening us with guilt; just the unbelievable offer of mercy and forgiveness. Guilt is a byproduct and judgement for sin, but when confessed should no longer hinder us. Guilt after confessing to God our sin is really and indicator that we lack trust that God really forgives us in the first place. Jesus' last words in this passage are "your faith has saved you; go in peace." We need to take these words to heart and accept that God has forgiven us in Christ and if we faithfully confess, God faithfully forgives.
Monday, October 5, 2009
We were not created equal?!!
Last week I spoke about God's Word being eternal truth. God's Word was truth in Eden, it is truth today, and it will be truth as far in the future and eternity as you care to imagine. It is the human being in our sinfulness that rubs like "sandpaper on skin" with regards to truth. The readings from this past weekend demonstrate this as divorce is one of the more contentious issues in the Church.
I was only able to preach one Mass this weekend, but one of the points I wanted to convey is that we are not created equal. We are all equal in human dignity, but male and female were not created equal and for the same purpose. We were created differently and to compliment the other. We find that complimentary union in marriage. Marriage is where two become one; just as the trinity is so perfect in love, that they are One. Marriage was meant to experience the divine life and to understand what such a unifying love is.
When the Pharisee's questioned Jesus about divorce, Jesus did not answer with the Mosaic Law, but took the Pharisee's back to the beginning and told them how God created us for marriage. No one puts asunder what God joins. Jesus tells us that it was because of our hardness of heart that Moses permitted divorce. That is a scathing review of our human condition. Jesus tells us that just because we get divorced, does not mean that God recognizes the divorce. Jesus tells us that we are living in a state of adultery. Marriage in the Church means making a covenant before God. We can get a civil divorce, but God is not obligated to our civil law.
Humility is a Christian virtue and it is humility that makes us see that yes, you are right God...and I am wrong. Humility does not ask or tell God to get with it...we're living in the 21st century...times have changed. Human beings have changed and God has not. God did not give us the Law to be a killjoy, but the Law was given so we could live a life of freedom. If you have a few spare months...the best resource on marriage and all it means is Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body. It is an exhaustive look on the Scriptural foundations of marriage based on yesterdays readings. I caution you it is a challenging read.
I certainly intended to keep this blog short, but I also notice that there is so much to cover that I do not get to in depth on anything. Please comment if you want an expansion of an idea or more explanation...Fr. Mark
I was only able to preach one Mass this weekend, but one of the points I wanted to convey is that we are not created equal. We are all equal in human dignity, but male and female were not created equal and for the same purpose. We were created differently and to compliment the other. We find that complimentary union in marriage. Marriage is where two become one; just as the trinity is so perfect in love, that they are One. Marriage was meant to experience the divine life and to understand what such a unifying love is.
When the Pharisee's questioned Jesus about divorce, Jesus did not answer with the Mosaic Law, but took the Pharisee's back to the beginning and told them how God created us for marriage. No one puts asunder what God joins. Jesus tells us that it was because of our hardness of heart that Moses permitted divorce. That is a scathing review of our human condition. Jesus tells us that just because we get divorced, does not mean that God recognizes the divorce. Jesus tells us that we are living in a state of adultery. Marriage in the Church means making a covenant before God. We can get a civil divorce, but God is not obligated to our civil law.
Humility is a Christian virtue and it is humility that makes us see that yes, you are right God...and I am wrong. Humility does not ask or tell God to get with it...we're living in the 21st century...times have changed. Human beings have changed and God has not. God did not give us the Law to be a killjoy, but the Law was given so we could live a life of freedom. If you have a few spare months...the best resource on marriage and all it means is Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body. It is an exhaustive look on the Scriptural foundations of marriage based on yesterdays readings. I caution you it is a challenging read.
I certainly intended to keep this blog short, but I also notice that there is so much to cover that I do not get to in depth on anything. Please comment if you want an expansion of an idea or more explanation...Fr. Mark
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Truth?! What is truth?!
These words may be ringing through the ears of Pontius Pilate for eternity. As human beings, we can access the truth if we search. Pilate was not interested in searching for the truth anymore than so many people today. The truth is so often what we want it to be. My truth lets me lead my life the way I want and others are free to follow. This denial of an absolute truth is called relativism in today's society.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (see 1975-1983) sums up that there is Truth and that it is not open to interpretation by the prevailing winds of public opinion or personal "feelings." Feelings are based on emotion and have usually not stood the rigors of soul searching, informing the conscience based on what God has revealed to creation, (unfortunately, this is the last measuring stick if it is used at all) or informing oneself through any other means of education.
God gave the law almost 3500 years ago and it is still valid. God does not change nor does God's Law change for society. The Law was given perfectly because God is perfect and has perfect knowledge. It is pretty arrogant of the created to say that such and such law is obsolete in today's world. Society and humanity has changed, not God.
The Catechism (paragraph 1978) states that "the natural law is a participation in God's wisdom and goodness by man formed in the image of his creator. It expresses the dignity of the human person..." All of God's Law's have given us as human beings a special dignity. When we choose to ignore God's Law, our dignity is harmed whether we know it or not. We can choose to believe God was right the first time when the Law was given and still is, or believe that God's Law is changable based on how humans feel at the time. That is step #1 in a search for the Truth. Is God's Law valid and it is a question we all must know and believe in our hearts.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church (see 1975-1983) sums up that there is Truth and that it is not open to interpretation by the prevailing winds of public opinion or personal "feelings." Feelings are based on emotion and have usually not stood the rigors of soul searching, informing the conscience based on what God has revealed to creation, (unfortunately, this is the last measuring stick if it is used at all) or informing oneself through any other means of education.
God gave the law almost 3500 years ago and it is still valid. God does not change nor does God's Law change for society. The Law was given perfectly because God is perfect and has perfect knowledge. It is pretty arrogant of the created to say that such and such law is obsolete in today's world. Society and humanity has changed, not God.
The Catechism (paragraph 1978) states that "the natural law is a participation in God's wisdom and goodness by man formed in the image of his creator. It expresses the dignity of the human person..." All of God's Law's have given us as human beings a special dignity. When we choose to ignore God's Law, our dignity is harmed whether we know it or not. We can choose to believe God was right the first time when the Law was given and still is, or believe that God's Law is changable based on how humans feel at the time. That is step #1 in a search for the Truth. Is God's Law valid and it is a question we all must know and believe in our hearts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)