Dear Friends in Christ,
Happy Laetare Sunday! Laetare Sunday is a day of celebration within our somewhat solemn period of Lent. My prevailing thought for my reflection today is…God’s Mercy is greater than our sins. God’s love is greater than our sins.
Psalms 51 defines sin as an offense, evil, guilt, and wrong against God and man. In light of this, we all sin and we all are offenders of God and neighbor. Since we are all guilty, how do we understand how God responds to our sins? Some of us could be…unsure about how God responds to our sins and how we should respond to God in light of our sins.
In scripture, we hear about situations where people have sinned, and through God’s mercy, they are made anew. For instance, in the Gospel reading from John, chapter 8, it’s the woman caught in adultery that sinned, and through God’s mercy, was made anew. In the passage, it was the scribes and the Pharisees who brought the woman to Jesus. They expected Jesus to condemn the woman because of the Mosaic law. Jesus simply asked them…that the one among you, who is without sin, be the first to cast the first stone. The Lord leaves the matter to their own consciences. And…they leave.
Jesus does not condemn the woman. He tells her to, “Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” Jesus allows her to correct her course. The Pharisees wished to condemn, and Jesus wished to forgive and to restore the sinner to health. Jesus gave the woman a pardon and a new start on life. This is forgiveness. Forgiveness is forward looking. Forgiveness is in the future.
Through repentance, God will forgive us. He gives us a chance. That’s because God’s mercy is greater than our sins. God’s love is greater than our sins. It is through God’s love and mercy that we receive the grace to repent.
This is what the prodigal son realizes in his most desperate moment when he is in sin, broke, hungry, and far away from his father. The only way home, the only way back to life and the meaning of life is through repentance. And what did the prodigal son say when he saw his father? He said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.” He felt sincere remorse. He repented.
There were several other times in the Gospels where people sinned and felt they should be punished. There was also the woman at the well and the repentant thief on the cross. They knew they were in sin and thought they should be condemned. But what did Jesus do? Did he condemn them? Did he punish them? Or did he love them, show mercy, and forgive them. He showed them love and mercy and forgave them.
Why? Because they showed remorse and repented.
So, since we all sin, how do we respond to our God, in light of our sin? Let me say this a different way. We are all aware that we sin and, at times, we fail. Do our sins lead us to God or do our sins lead us away from God? When we are in sin, do we feel guilty and get overwhelmed and get paralyzed? Do we feel like we are too sinful to receive God’s mercy? This kind of guilt oftentimes leads us to directing our attention to ourselves instead of directing our eyes to God. We feel like we are in this rut, and we must rely on ourselves to get out of it. Some of us feel so guilty and so sinful that we even feel too embarrassed to go to confession. It’s when we are having these feelings that we should pray and understand that God loves us in-spite of our sins.
The Good News today, brothers and sisters, is that no matter how much we have sinned or no matter how grave our sin, our God still loves us! He wants us to turn toward him. Think of Peter who returned to his Lord with repentance and cried bitterly for his sins after he denied Jesus 3 times. Peter turned to Jesus. This is opposite of Judas, who was so overcome by his sin that he did not believe in God’s mercy and hung himself. Judas turned away from Jesus. Judas did not think that God’s mercy was greater than his sin.
When we turn to God, he shows us mercy and compassion. He does so because he loves us. His love for us is greater than any love that we can comprehend.
One way I think about our Father’s love is to think of this kind of love as compared to parents having a child. When parents have a child,
They love their child
They care for their child
They feed their child when he or she is hungry
They provide clothing and shelter.
They show mercy to their child when their child makes mistakes.
This is how God loves us.
When our child grows older, what do we want from our child? We want their love in return and obedience. We would be hurt if our child didn’t love us back or if they misbehaved. Now will they be perfect and never misbehave? Of course not, but we still love them anyway.
Our God loves us and wants us to love him. And even if we stray, even if we sin, he still wants us to turn toward him. He gives us a chance today to show our love for him and desire to live in a way pleasing to him. He gives us the grace today to show remorse and repent. He wants us look to the cross, believe, and respond to His love.
Lent is a time to cultivate the ground of our souls. We have a special opportunity to take a closer look at whether we are living as disciples of Christ. During Lent, we can concentrate on those aspects of our lives that are interfering with our relationship with God. What sins, addictions, or distractions keep us from following Jesus? A lot of people could be imprisoned by their sin. Please know that there is a way out, a path forward. Please know that we have a chance to be made anew.
Brothers and sisters, I’m happy to know that our God is a loving god. He is a patient God. His mercy is greater than our sins. His love is greater than our sins
Your Brother-in-Christ,
Dcn Darryl Drenon
