Today I want
to address a question that often comes up when people are talking to
me in confession and it is related to what we celebrate at
Christmas. Actually it is more of a fear than a question.
Almost everyone talks about a particular thing that they struggle
with, whether it be anger, gossip, a sexual weakness, an addiction,
or whatever; and it causes no end of suffering and humiliation.
No matter how hard we try, we don’t seem to be able to overcome
it. In fact I’ve often heard people say to me that they don’t
feel there is any point in going to confession anymore because they
just end up confessing this same sin again and again and they don’t
seem to be getting any better, so where’s the point? It can
make us afraid that we won’t be able to go to heaven because of our
weakness. ‘Since I can’t overcome this sin, why would God
allow me to go to heaven?’ That is usually the thinking
behind it. However, when we think like that I believe we are
really missing the whole point of the death and resurrection of
Jesus.
The truth is
that no matter how hard we try to be holy and overcome our sins, our
weaknesses, we continually fall short of the mark. That is our
reality. When he wrote to the Christians in Rome, St. Paul put
it like this:
Since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God, they are redeemed by his grace as a gift… to be received by
faith (Rom 3:23ff).
In plain
English that is saying to us, since all of us have sinned and can
never be good enough for God, it is God himself who has made up the
difference for us. God has made up for us what we cannot do
ourselves, through the death and resurrection of Jesus. The
fact that we will always be sinners and will always struggle with
various weaknesses is no longer a problem, because God has made us
‘good enough’ through what Jesus did. That is what being
‘redeemed’ means. We cannot get to heaven by our own
strength, by our own efforts, because we are too weak and too sinful
and no matter how hard we try we keep falling, but we don’t have to
be afraid of that because Jesus has made up for us, what we cannot do
ourselves.
St. Paul also
struggled with some kind of weakness that caused him great
humiliation, in spite of the fact he had various visions of Jesus and
of heaven. Listen to what he says about it:
I do not understand my own behavior; I do not act as I
mean to, but I do things that I hate. ...the good thing I want
to do, I never do; the evil thing which I do not want—that is what
I do. (Cf. Rom 7:14-24)
Finally
he says, ‘Who will save me from this wretched state? Thanks
be to God through Jesus Christ.’ That is the exact fear that
people keep saying to me in confession: ‘Who will save me from this
wretched weakness? How can I ever come before God in heaven
when this is what I’m like?’ This is where God calls us to
realize what Jesus has done for us. He has made up for our
weakness himself. That is why the coming of Jesus among us at
Christmas is such an extraordinary event, because it is the beginning
of God making up for our weakness, our sinfulness. We are not
able to be good enough for God by our own strength, but it no longer
matters because Jesus has made himself the bridge between God and
humanity. Now we can come before God without fear because Jesus
has made it possible. Each time we celebrate the mass we are
becoming present to that event—the sacrifice of Jesus—which made
it possible for us to go to heaven. No other sacrifice or
offering to God will ever be necessary for us, because the selfless
act of Jesus dying for us has done everything necessary. All we
have to do is to accept it. No wonder we celebrate the mass
every day, in every church all over the world.
The mistake
we continually make, which causes us to be afraid, is to think that
we have to become ‘good enough’ for God. But the problem is
that that is impossible for us by our own strength. If we stop
there, then we would have every reason to despair. But once we
realize that it is Jesus who steps in and bridges the gap, then we
have endless hope, because it no longer depends on us being good
enough. All we have to do is accept this extraordinary gift
from God.
So is
Christmas relevant to us in a practical way in our day to day
living? It totally is, because the coming of God into our world
in the person of Jesus is what reassures us that no matter how weak
or sinful we are, the path to heaven will always remain open to us as
long as we ask God for it. All we have to do is accept from God
this amazing gift which He is offering us.
‘Who
will save me from this wretched state?
Thanks
be to God through Jesus Christ’ (Rom 7:24).
No comments:
Post a Comment