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Sisters and brothers. We’ve been talking about our foundational beliefs over the last number of episodes of Renewed. One of the ones we deal with today is the hard reality that we are indeed fallen persons, human beings who not only have original sin but who actually sin. We’re going to talk today about sin. When we talk about sin, what is it?
Sin is a rebellion. It’s an alienation. It's a breaking of a relationship with God. Sin isn't so much about what rule we break. It’s about the impact on our relationship with God, ourselves, others, and the world. So it's the pathway that we come to an alienation because of a conscious decision. When we talk about sin. Sin is a human act, and human acts call for several elements.
One is we have to know what we’re doing. We have to will it, and then we do it. So in knowing, willing, and choosing to do something wrong, if we know that with great clarity, our sin is a heavier, weighted, serious sin. Sometimes sin is simply a compromise.
The Jewish people had two words for sin. One was that sin of an outright rebellion, which we just talked about. The other was sort of from archery. It was missing the mark. And so often, when we sin, it’s not the intent to rebel and reject God. It is a compromise. We gossip. We find ourselves on the road in an act of anger with somebody driving. They’re not necessarily sins that we've planned and meditated on, but their reactions.
They’re there because we are tempted to sin because of the nature of original sin that remains with us even though we are reconciled in Baptism. Our sins then fall into two categories one called grave sin, or in the old days, we say mortal sin, grave and mortal remind us of their impact.
They kill our relationship with God. They are clear breaks. So when you think about mortal sin, sisters and brothers, think about the seriousness of that kind of sin that you the intent that you have to do something wrong. Whether that was murder, to enter into a lasting affair outside of a marriage, it has to be something we’ve thought through and choose to do with great seriousness.
The other are venial sins, and those are those sins of compromise that crop up in our day and frequently, all too often. The Church does give us two pathways to be reconciled. One is for venial sins, for those lesser sins, those compromises are to be able to pray the act of contrition, forgiveness for our sins, to be able to say, I'm sorry, to bring our contrition before God to participate in the Eucharist. Those ways are pathways for us to be forgiven from venial or lesser sin.
Grave sin, though, requires the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Why? Because of the relationship with God that we have broken clearly needs to be restored by God. And so when we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession, as we would say in the old days, when we go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the priest is before us, not as a man.
The priest is before us standing in the very shoes of Christ to be able to speak the words of Christ to us, that I absolve you from this and all your sins. What powerful and beautiful words.
Saint Augustine used to say Confession, Reconciliation are indeed like a second Baptism that we’re enabled to have the cleanliness of soul, as we did on the day of our Baptism.
So, sisters and brothers, one of the things I would leave you with is to think of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. While it involves the shame of having to name our sins, it's also one of the most fabulous sacraments of joy that the Church offers to us. No one, having made a faithful and good Confession, can leave the Reconciliation room without being had joy and renewed.
Reflection Questions:
How does understanding sin as a break in a relationship with God, rather than just rule-breaking, change your perspective on it?
In what ways have the concepts of mortal and venial sin impacted your spiritual life?
How can participating in the Sacrament of Reconciliation bring joy and renewal to your Faith journey?