You have heard it said: "Sin hardens the heart." How aware are we, the people of the 21st Century, of this reality. Clearly many Catholics have altered what they believe sin is. Even some rather conservative Catholics (whatever that actually means) have a doubt about some of the things we considered sins just a few decades ago. The Pro-Choice army is not solely liberals! Sin, so it seems, has been riding on the pendulum, swinging from the scrupulous right to the "Is there still sin?" questioning of the liberal left. Testimony to this reality is the not so frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Even from those who are brave enough to allow others see them in a confessional line, albeit a short line, there is too frequently a remark like this: "All I have to confess are the ordinary sins."
Tell that to the man who was scourged, beaten, had a crown of thorns mashed into his head, nailed to a crude tree cross and stabbed before his body finally gave up the spirit. If you were in his skin, do you think you would say, "Okay, that okay. This is just an ordinary thing that is happening to me. St. Paul reminds us "Sin must not reign over your bodies."
How did this come about, this lackadaisical attitude toward sin? De we succumb to a deception that "God will always forgive." Sin really doesn't mean that much any more. While God forgives sin there is a reality we seem to forget: forgiveness is just on part of pardon; there remains atonement. One of these days we will begin to realize the sentiment of "The days of the two martini lunch are long past!" also applies to the matter of sin. Don't let our culture make us look like fools. "Our help is in the name of the Lord." And this we call reconciliation.
Tell that to the man who was scourged, beaten, had a crown of thorns mashed into his head, nailed to a crude tree cross and stabbed before his body finally gave up the spirit. If you were in his skin, do you think you would say, "Okay, that okay. This is just an ordinary thing that is happening to me. St. Paul reminds us "Sin must not reign over your bodies."
How did this come about, this lackadaisical attitude toward sin? De we succumb to a deception that "God will always forgive." Sin really doesn't mean that much any more. While God forgives sin there is a reality we seem to forget: forgiveness is just on part of pardon; there remains atonement. One of these days we will begin to realize the sentiment of "The days of the two martini lunch are long past!" also applies to the matter of sin. Don't let our culture make us look like fools. "Our help is in the name of the Lord." And this we call reconciliation.
