18th
Sunday after Pentecost 23.9.18 Purpose of Amendment
The man
healed in today’s Gospel was lying on a stretcher, a good place from which to
reflect on what is really important in life.
Our Lord
knew where to go first as far as providing help. He started with the man’s
sins. Most people would have started with the physical sickness.
We can see
ourselves ‘on a stretcher’ as far as coming into the Lord’s presence. We may be
physically well, but if we are still sinning we are laid low until we receive
the Lord’s forgiveness.
We receive
this forgiveness primarily in the Sacrament of Penance. We are healed
spiritually, though we realize there is much more to be done.
Can we
achieve a sinless life?
We have the
saints to inspire us, especially Our Lady. In her we find perfect harmony with
the will of God, every desire in the right place and the right amount.
Sin could
find no place in her. She was lost in adoration of God. As we contemplate her
we make the same transition. Our desires, where we look, what we look for… all
these will be purified.
One prayer
we make in Confession, and other times, is the Act of Contrition. It comes in
various forms, but part of its content is a promise not to sin again... and I promise with the help of Thy grace
never more to offend Thee and to amend my life, Amen.
When we
realize the goodness of God and the ugliness of sin we want to make an absolute
break with sin once and for all, and embark on new life in union with Christ.
We are aware
of our human weakness and realize that a certain amount of sin is highly
likely. Even if we do love God it seems impossible to avoid a few slip-ups.
So we are
saying: I will not sin again; but
also saying: I probably will sin again.
How can we make sense of this?
My intention
is not to sin again. While it is highly likely I will sin again, I cannot rest
with that as though because sin is common, it is somehow acceptable.
We are never
tested beyond our strength, as St Paul says elsewhere (1 Co 10,13). And think
how hard we work on other areas of our lives to keep things clean: tolerating
no weeds in the garden, or dirt on the floor... Yet we accept stain on the
soul.
We need to
detest sin.
If we set
ourselves for the total removal of sin we will sin a lot less, and that is
worth something. Ten sins is better than twenty etc.
We learn
from our falls (like a football team... we lapsed in the third quarter etc). We
can bounce back from defeat.
We take the
moral life seriously enough to adjust our behaviour where necessary; but not so
downcast at our failures that we give in to despair.
We can get better
at meaning that act of contrition. We can at least reduce the number and
severity of the sins we commit.
I am a
better person today than yesterday; tomorrow better still.
Even if there
is a sudden lapse, I pick up and overall make progress.
It is all
made possible by His grace. If we ask we will find what we need. His grace will
heal us as well as forgive us; will give us a new understanding of what happens
when we sin; of how the evil one tricks us; of how we will be happier if we
take God’s way; always remaining vigilant.
That
vigilance means lots of prayer and meditation. We will close the gaps on
temptation, giving it less ways of getting at us.
We become
stronger and better people – moving from darkness to light; able to get off
that stretcher.
No comments:
Post a Comment