not fit to be called an Apostle,
because I persecuted the Church of God.
But by the grace of God I am what I am,
and his grace to me has not been ineffective.
Indeed, I have toiled harder than all of them;
not I, however, but the grace of God that is with me." -1Cor. 15:9-10
“Two people were in debt to a certain creditor;
one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty.
Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both.
Which of them will love him more?”
Simon said in reply,
“The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.”
He said to him, “You have judged rightly.” -Lk.7:41-43
09/18/2014 Wednesday of the Twenty-fourth Week of Ordinary Time
We are all sinners. No one of us sins better or worse than any other of us. We all do things in our lives that go against what God wishes for us. God's mercy is there and waiting for us any time we decide to accept it. Jesus is dying to forgive our sins, literally! All we have to do is reach out, take his hand, accept his mercy and move on. Aye, there's the rub. We love our sins. We don't want to give them up. We're okay with them. 'Well, it's not that bad' we tell ourselves, 'it's not like I'm an ax-murderer or anything'. Well, sure it's easy to soar over a bar that's so low, isn't it?
But what Jesus is saying is not that he loves one or another more or even that his forgiveness is better for some than it is for others. He is saying, whatever it is that weighs on your soul, whatever you've done to harm God or his creation, he can and will forgive if you ask with a contrite heart and a sincere desire to put sin behind you.
Remember the "Muppet Christmas Carol', when Statler and Waldorff show up as the Marley brothers wearing those chains? Think of sin as those chains and the more we sin, the more links we put on the chain. Now imagine you were in a line and at the front, they were taking the chains off of everybody. They weren't making you melt it down yourself or cut each link and padlock with bolt cutters. You get to the head of the line and there's Jesus waiting with open arms. You look at him sincerely, tell him your sorry and that you love him and he wraps his arms around you. In his embrace you feel the utmost love and peace and when he lets you go, you feel strangely lighter. Whether the chain of sin that imprisoned you was five pounds or five thousand pounds, it's gone and you are calm and grateful. But the guy with the five thousand pound chain feels a heck of a lot lighter, doesn't he?
We need to see where we have added links to the chain and get rid of it. The great part is, we don't need to wait until it weighs five thousand pounds to go to God and have it removed. We can do it anytime. I wrote about the sacrament of reconciliation once here and the sacrament is still as beautiful and life-changing as ever. Which reminds me, I need to go soon.
God bless,
P.D.O.
p.s.- Since we're talking about returning to God no matter how heavy your chain is, it's a good time for a plug! I am part of a ministry at my parish called Coming Home to Catholicism and we have a session coming up soon. Starting on October 9th 2014, for seven weeks, our team will be getting together from 7:00 to 8:30 at St. Kathryn's Parish in Hudson, NH. If you've been away from the church for a while and have thought of returning, come and hang out with a group of people who all left the church at one time and then returned and explore whether it is time for you to do the same.
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