16th Sunday after Pentecost 16.9.07
Sometimes the Church is accused of making people feel guilty. Well, is that such a bad thing? If someone is guilty it is better that they feel guilty than not feel it.
If they feel guilty they might then humble themselves before God and seek His mercy, and resolve to correct whatever is causing the guilt.
Nobody likes to feel guilty but it is often the first step to freedom, and therefore something to be welcomed rather than avoided.
Granted there are people who feel guilty when there is nothing to worry about, and we don’t want everyone having scruples, but nor at the other extreme can we have everyone thinking all is right when it is not.
These days, in the Church, there is a trend to emphasize the goodness of people, and avoid talking about sins altogether. We remind people that they are ‘special’, that each person is unique and precious to God.
And it is true. So you are special, but you are also a sinner. There is no contradiction; both statements are true, and we need to realize both.
The specialness will be an incentive for us to act according to our status, like being a member of a royal family, so we must not live like tramps.
And if others also are special we must treat them with suitable respect.
But we cannot confuse specialness of status or identity with actual moral goodness. They are entirely different subjects.
I could be the Prince of Denmark but still be capable of mortal sin. Being prince will not make me innocent. In fact the higher my rank the more guilty I become if I misbehave.
Specialness without morality actually makes the guilt worse, because we are then more culpable.
So how shall we handle our guilt? There are two ways of removing guilt: denying it and confessing it. We need to take the second way.
Confess humbly to the Lord that we have sinned, and He will raise us up. Even if we don’t think we have the strength to break free from the sin, His mercy will flood our souls and give us new strength.
Humility is the key. Yes, I am special, but not as special as God. Before Him I go face down on the ground, and stay there.
For practical reasons He allows me to stand up and walk around in His presence, but in spirit I am still down there with my nose pressed to the ground. That is how we all must be. Humble in spirit, taking the lowest place in today’s parable.
He forgives us. We should never forget, however, that this is a privilege we do not deserve. That we do not deserve to be still alive even, and we should be very grateful for being allowed another chance.
This abundant mercy only raises our status and specialness even higher. Because why would God bother with such insects otherwise?
And this attitude heightens a sensitivity to sin and a revulsion for it, so that we feel more guilty if we do sin, and more grateful for being forgiven.
The great danger is that we will allow the real specialness to lead to a false independence as though we can break away from God (as Lucifer did).
The specialness should bring us closer to God and learn to fit in with His will, in a partnership of trust and obedience.
Appeals to guilt are never an attack on the dignity of the person nor on God’s fidelity to us, but rather an appeal to our better nature.
So let us take the lowest place, before God, prostrate before His majesty, and we trust that He will ask us to come up higher.
