Exhaling

Comment by Carol

June 24, 2008 @ 5:01 pm

Amen. The Mercifully Forgiven are both freed and sent.

Comment by Gabrielle

June 27, 2008 @ 12:07 pm

kt, my heart and soul agrees with everything you say here - it is uplifting and refreshing - a joyous trust in Divine Mercy. What I’m wondering about though is the idea of (as we see in the saints’ lives and from what I’ve read particularly in the lives of the female mystics) actual and ongoing penance for past sin. Doesn’t this keep the past sin continually in one’s mind and on one’s heart. Would appreciate learning your thoughts about this.

Comment by kathryntherese

June 27, 2008 @ 1:37 pm

Well, there is certainly a need for us to live penitential lives, and to continuously offer ourselves in reparation for sin. Our own and others’.

But what I am cautioning against here is the hyper-scrutiny of our own pasts, a looking at the details and trying to determine our own culpability, or to refuse to accept the forgiveness that is freely offered to us. There is a fine line here, of course. But to keep hauling up our past sins and hold them up as a kind of barrier between us and God is not what is meant by “my sin is ever before me.”

We DO need to be conscious always that we are sinners, that we are sinful and selfward, that without God and His sustaining grace, we would fall into every kind of sin. But to know this in a general (though piercingly true) way is not the same as to be always lost in our pasts and never free of them. It is sufficient to recall our past sins in a quick overview to remember we are sinners.

But there is a temptation to which some souls are more susceptible than others, and that is to continuously hyper-examine their pasts and never be free of sins that have already been forgiven them.

Drat. Kids need lunch, so I am distracted. I wanted to post some links, but feel free to continue this discussion while I feed the troops. More later, perhaps.

Comment by C

June 28, 2008 @ 10:58 am

It was a few years ago, after again waiting for another penitent who goes every week (I think) and who always takes so long in the confessional. What does she do, murder folks all week? Are we missing a serial killer in our midst? Kleptomaniac, maybe? Anyway, I finally got in, and after looking around for bodies, confessed some lesser but real stuff, ’cause I was pretty sure I had never confessed this or that, as it was so long ago. I got the kind lecture: Alright now, you heard that, right? (What, Father?) “I absolve you from all your sins.. ALL. You won’t forget, will you?” (I won’t, Father.) And I haven’t. One must defer to an alter Christi, period. It is good to see one’s sin in Christ’s suffering, but one had better not miss the Love that took it on as His own. As His own. One of the things He came to do was to unshackle us all; how clearly He made that point. And how not so clearly, leaving it to interpretation and free will, we, too, are then Sent.

Comment by Hush

June 30, 2008 @ 11:02 pm

Hmm… don’t feel you need to post this comment, but I am wondering why you aren’t listed as a contributor here? Wouldn’t you want to be?

Comment by kathryntherese

July 1, 2008 @ 10:25 pm

Well, I’d love to contribute, but haven’t found the time or topic to jump on board. But Heidi has invited me to do what I’d like, when I met her at a recent conference

Comment by H

July 1, 2008 @ 10:29 pm

I recall you mentioning it. Well, for Pete’s sake, Advent will be here before we know it…

Comment by gabrielle

July 2, 2008 @ 1:48 am

Thanks, kt; I understand what you are saying. Perhaps it is the very experience of receiving Divine Mercy that allows one to make ongoing reparation and lead a penitential life out of love and joy rather than scrupulosity and guilt. Grace and mercy change everything.

Comment by kathryntherese

July 2, 2008 @ 8:51 am

You made the fine distinction, Gabrielle - love and joy as opposed to scrupulosity and guilt. It is this kind of unhealthy guilt that keeps our sins before us in the wrong way, and it is really a kind of pride because it keeps our focus on OURSELVES.

When we take the focus off of us and look at God, our sin is still before us, but in a general way. We know we are sinners, that no one is worthy in His sight, but that His love makes us His children anyway. And in our love and gratitude, we are sad to see Him offended and unloved, and we want to make up for that in some small way. So we embrace a life of penance (within reason!) in the right spirit, and a joyful one.

It is the difference between beating ourselves up with self-hate and saying, “I’m bad. I’m bad.” and keeping our eyes on God and acknowledging humbly that we cannot be good without Him. He makes us good, from the inside out. But we know that, on our own, we cannot even utter His name.

Comment by C

July 2, 2008 @ 9:30 am

Exactly so. In the right spirit, and a joyful one, akin to John Bernadone’s own, which was selfless. Beautifully said, both of you.