What exactly is sin?
Many talk about sin as if it is something of the distant past; others portray it as a natural progression towards an eventual or perceived human maturation. Few, in fact, have the courage to admit it because they conscientiously recognise its serious...
Many talk about sin as if it is something of the distant past; others portray it as a natural progression towards an eventual or perceived human maturation. Few, in fact, have the courage to admit it because they conscientiously recognise its serious resultant consequences. Call it what you want or put it under the list of countless excuses one may create. Sin exists. And how!
The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin- Pope Pius XII
In his 1946 radio message to the US Catechetical Congress, the Servant of God, Pope Pius XII, prophetically expressed the following reflection: “The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin”. Perhaps the great calamities of two world wars in the 20th-century gave ample evidence of the terrible cruelty evil consciences can manage to perpetrate on innocent third parties.
In his encyclical Reconciliatio et Paenitentia on reconciliation and penance in the mission of the Church, Blessed John Paul II warned that “modern man is threatened by an eclipse of conscienc... a deformation of conscience... a numbness or ‘deadening’ of conscience”.
Thus, the correct understanding of sin is all the more needed in our days. This is because our consciences cannot afford being ruthlessly governed and suffocated by the dictatorship of relativistic tendencies.
For a long time we Catholics regarded sin as a crime. We believed living morally consisted of obeying the law, mainly the divine law or commandments of God, Church laws or the natural laws that are articulated in the moral corpus of the Church’s teaching.
We justified or denounced our moral actions simply by saying “it’s in the Bible” or “the Church says so”. Obviously, the legal model for comprehending moral life decreases our capacity to live our God-given freedom responsibly. It falsifies and hides from our eyes the harmful nature of sin.
It completely ignores the essential fact that sin is, first and foremost, a matter of the heart. It obliterates the reality that sin deteriorates our attitudes (are we kind or hostile?), our intentions (Do we make an effort to be of assistance to others or just serve ourselves?) and the way we view things (Do we consider what we go through in the eyes of faith? Do we have hope or give in to despair?).
In the light of this perspective one can easily understand why Jesus insists so much that what flows from the heart is precisely what makes one sinful. For Jesus, sinful acts are solely the ending result of a disobedient heart (see Is. 29:13; Mk 7:21; Mt 23:25-26; Lk 6:45).
Thanks to Church’s biblical renewal and some philosophical shifts that greatly affected both the Church and society, sin started to be evaluated vis-à-vis a relational model of the moral life. St Paul says no person lives for him/herself (Rom. 14:7) because as Christ’s body we undergo the experience of suffering and joy together (1 Cor. 12:26-27).
Since we share a common world we participate in a system of relationships which makes us responsible for others and the entire creation. Our covenanted relationship with God continuously animates our hearts to be transformed in the God-given vocation of serving our fellow brothers and sisters.
Philosophy has helped us acknowledge and promote the dignity of people and the accompanying value of sharing our lives in society.
Taken together these shifts in theology and philosophy foster a relational model which promotes personal responsibility for safeguarding the bonds of peace and justice that assist human relationships.
Unfortunately, original sin is still deeply infused in our weakened nature. As humans we feel our freedom is somehow hindered by lust. We feel attracted to selfishness, which separates us from God, others and ourselves.
Sin has even made its presence deeply felt in human-made structures which gravely insult human dignity because they cause people to suffer the evils of oppression, exploitation and marginalisation.
Why not resort to the sacrament of penance and reconciliation to be healed from the brokenness in our lives and set our relationships right?
frmarioa@gmail.com
Fr Attard is a member of the Order of Franciscan Capuchins.