Easy to Say that God is Merciful
(Fr. Andrew’s homily for April 7th 2024)
To say that God is merciful is easy,
even popular. However, receiving God’s mercy is not that easy. It is easy to
understand that God forgives, but it is not as easy to seek God’s forgiveness.
God’s forgiveness is like a doctor’s
healing. If you want to be healed by a doctor, you need to acknowledge that you
are sick, go to the doctor and do what the doctor says, even when it is
painful. In order to be forgiven we need, first, to acknowledge that we have
sinned and this requires humility; second, we need to acknowledge it before God
Himself, who is not only the doctor but also the one whom we have offended with
our sin; finally, we need to take the prescribed medicine, which is going to
confession, and this requires great humility as well. Jesus prescribed this
medicine to the Church in today’s Gospel, when He said: “As the Father has sent
me, so I send you... Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are
forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained” (John 20:21-23).
Jesus gave to the Apostles, together with the Holy Spirit, the authority He had
from the Father to forgive sins.
The Church cannot forgive sins without
Jesus, but Jesus does not want to forgive them without the Church.[1]
Jesus could still forgive sins outside of confession, if He wants to, but He
certainly wants the Church to forgive sins in His name. He said to the
Apostles, “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them” (John 20:23) and He
never said, “But if someone wants to come directly to me, it’s ok too.” He
didn’t say that.
So, we have been reassured by Jesus that
we can be forgiven by the Apostles and all those who share in this “ministry of
reconciliation,” as St. Paul says (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:18). Why not go
to confession, then? Well, because it is difficult, because we are ashamed,
because it feels humiliating. We all may have felt that way some time.
Why did Jesus invent the Sacrament of
Reconciliation? Why did He connect His forgiveness to the human judgment of a
priest? I wish I could respond in a few words, but it is impossible. Let me say
just two things in the time we have.
1. Forgiving someone is not
ignoring their sin. When someone has offended you, you may choose not to punish
them, but forgiving them implies more than that. It implies that you are aware
of the offense and that you are still willing to do good to that person; it
implies that, for you, that person is still good (that is, lovable) despite the
fact that they did wrong; it implies that, for you, your brother or sister’s sin
does not define them, does not make them bad, at least not for you. “The fact
that my brother did bad does not mean for me that he is bad: I
still love him. There is still something good about him.”
Now, does this attitude change anything
in the sinner? Does he actually become good because I have forgiven him? Is he
actually sorry for what he did? Did he stop doing it or does he continue doing
even worse things? Forgiving is not abandoning people in their sins. The
forgiving person desires a change of heart in the sinner and tries to do
something about that, at least by prayer. God does the same: He wants us to be
good, not sinners. He calls us to repentance and conversion, He calls us to
newness of life. He cares about us; He does not abandon us in our sinfulness.
God’s mercy is God’s moving towards the
sinner to make the sinner good, to cure him or her, to restore their spiritual
health. But, why through the Church?
2. From a more human point of
view, the word “redemption” has a lot to do with convincing ourselves that we
are good after we have been bad, at least in our estimation. Many people think
of themselves as bad people, or as failures, or as lost cases. Many times they
try to hide those feelings to themselves and to others around them, in many
ways, but they still look for someone who can make them feel that they are
good. Some people may get emotionally stuck in despair: they feel that the
burden they carry cannot be undone by anyone. They think they have no
redemption.
In cases of emotional trauma, people who
feel that they have no “redemption”, so to speak, can be assisted by someone
who helps them recover their own sense of dignity. But when someone has
committed sin and they know it, there is nobody in the world who can convince
them that they are good. They need to hear this from God Himself. God knew
that, and this is why He Himself said that He would truly forgive and make good
again whoever the Apostles would forgive. This is the only reassurance on earth
that we are forgiven: the words of the priest.
God’s care for the sinner is accomplished
through the wonderful sacrament of Reconciliation. He receives your confession
that you did bad and that you are sorry about that; and He reassures you that
what you did is forgiven because He has redeemed you and made you whole again.
He has cured what was sick in you and welcomes you again as His good child.
Only God can do that. And He does it through a man.
Briefly, other reasons why God chose to
forgive in this way are: 1) every sin implies an act of pride: “God thinks this
is not good for me, but I disagree”; the forgiveness of sin comes through an
act of humility, that is, the confession of our sins. 2) When we sin we hurt
not only God but also His Church. This is because we are part of a Body, the
Church: when we are sick the whole Body suffers. For this reason, it is fitting
that we confess our sins not only to God but to the Church as well and that we
receive forgiveness from God through the Church.
[1]
Cf. Blessed Isaac of Stella
(12th century), Sermon 11 in Liturgy of the Hours, Office of Readings
for Friday XXIII in Ordinary Time.
Comments
Post a Comment