Love and Sin
In August 1982 I attended a parish mission at Our Lady of Loretto over several nights. Each night the mission lasted about two hours from 8:00 to 10:00 PM. The church was packed. Many children were present. My daughters, ages five and nine, were there. I do not recall any crying or fidgeting children. It was a spirit filled experienced.
The presenter was Fr. Brennan Manning, a Franciscan priest. I have read that Fr. Manning left the priesthood and was laicized shortly after this mission. He was an alcoholic and married a woman whom he later divorced. He died in 2013. 1
Doesn’t sound like the story of a saint. However, “God writes straight with crooked lines” (St. Teresa of Avila). I learned something during that mission that changed me profoundly.
The central message preached by Fr. Manning was, “God loves you as you are, not as you should be, because nobody is as they should be.”
A simple sentence, but an eye opener.
Many people think they have to earn God’s love. They think they are not good enough to go to heaven. They fear God is waiting for them to make a mistake, end their life, and send them to hell. What a grace to learn God’s love is unconditional. We can never earn it because He freely gives it. Our challenge is not to earn God’s love but, rather, not to reject it.
You will hear people say sin offends God or hurts Him. Or that we can lose heaven because we committed a serious sin. We may see things that way, but I don’t think that’s how God sees it.
God cannot be hurt. Certainly our sins are an affront to God. But the reality of sin is that it is a rejection of God, a rejection of the love He freely gives us. We can never lose that love God freely gives, but we can freely reject it. We cannot lose the gift of paradise He promises to His children, but we can freely and deliberately reject it.
When you were baptized, your parents along with Barbara and I all asked, on your behalf, for you to become a child of God and a brother of Jesus. With your baptism came a right of inheritance. You received the right to be with God forever in heaven. However, God does not force you to accept your inheritance. You are free to reject that inheritance.
Life is full of temptations. You will always sin. Everyone born of man and woman, except for our Mother Mary, has sinned. As long as we draw breath, we will be capable of sinning. Fortunately, we have the sacraments of Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick. We should pray for God’s grace to avoid all sin but especially mortal sin.
The first thing we should do is avoid opportunities to sin. Even better is to develop virtuous acts. When I taught an eighth grade religion class in the parish I used a table to explain what I meant.
Think of the tabletop as living in God’s grace. Think of the area off the side of the table as being in the state of mortal sin. The tabletop area closest to the edge is where venial sins are found.
Think about walking along a straight line on the ground. Try looking only at the line as you are walking close to it. How likely are you to cross over that line or at least step on it? How likely are you to fall off the table with your eyes only fixed on the edge, especially if you are hurrying as we often do in life?
Now think about the rest of the tabletop. Near the edge of the table is the land of sin. The rest of the tabletop is the land of virtue. The more we focus on just avoiding sin the more likely we are to commit sin. The more we focus on developing virtue, moving away from the edge of the table, the less likely we are to sin, especially serious sin.
Again, sin is rejecting God’s love. No one knows exactly what happens when we die. We hear that God will judge us worthy of entering heaven or He will condemn us to hell. I have my own idea of what will happen.
God’s Judgement
We all know about courts where guilt and innocence are determined. Those courts have a judge who presides over the trial and passes judgement. If there is a jury, the jury decides whether the defendant is guilty or innocent. The judge only passes sentence.
I think the common image people have is that when they die, they will stand in front of Jesus hoping He will find them worthy of heaven and not hell. I don’t think it will be like that.
I believe Jesus will ask you a simple question, just as He asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” Jesus knows the answer. You will know the answer. You will not be able to lie to Truth Himself. If you are in the state of grace, you will answer, “Yes.” However, if you die in the state of mortal sin, a state you freely entered, you will know it and will have to answer, “No.”
Jesus will just confirm the sentence you passed on yourself. If you love Him, He will welcome you to heaven, or at least purgatory. If you do not love Him, you will condemn yourself to hell. He will confirm your own judgement.
Where you spend eternity is up to you.
Focus on the virtues and Works of Mercy. Stay away from the edge of the table.
Virtue and Works of Mercy
Virtues
The Spiritual Works of Mercy
The Corporal Works of Mercy
Greg Gillen
July 14, 2023
Edited August 20, 2024
© 2024 Greg Gillen
Image Credit/The Ghent Altarpiece: The Adoration of The Mystic Lamb/Jan van Eyck; Hubert van Eyck/artinflanders.be-Gent/Photo by Dominique Provos/Public Domain
1 www.patheos.com/blogs/youngfogey/2013/04/the-unfortunate-legacy-of-brennan-manning/
