“A humbled contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.” Ps 50
We frequently hear about the value of positive self-esteem
and confessing our worth today, but how often do we hear about the value of
confessing our faults? Even the word ‘sin’ is hardly ever mentioned outside of
Christian circles. And amongst Catholics in this country, there has been a
radical decline in the use of the Sacrament of Penance. Of course the two
things are related. The less aware we are of our ‘sickness’ (i.e sin) the less
likely we are to call a doctor (i.e. sacrament of penance).
The Ninevites responded to the preaching of Jonah and
repented, and the Lord forgave them. Many of the Jews of Jesus’ time thought
that they were good by virtue of being children of Abraham, and did not need to
repent. Jesus told them that they would be judged by the Ninevites, for He was
greater than Jonah, yet they did not repent. Christ continually exhorted people
to “repent and believe.”
In response to sin there can be two extremes: over-scrupulous
and un-scrupulous. If previous eras were characterised by over-scruples, our
present era is characterised by insensitivity to sin.
God has made us good in our being, but we are not entirely
good in our lives, choices and actions. Made in the image of God, we have
however marred that image due to original sin. We are ontologically* good, but
not morally good. Usually we get things muddled, for we think we are
ontologically worse than we actually are, and we think we are morally better
than we actually are! The problem is that we measure ourselves against the
standards of the world rather than the standards of our Lord!
Contrition is “sorrow of the soul and detestation for the
sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.” (CCC 1451) Let
us pray this Lent that we may be given a contrite heart that we may be astounded
by the knowledge that we are made in the image of God (ontologically good), but
also be grieved to the heart that we have marred that image by our sin, though
also filled with joy that the Father heals us through His Son in His priests.
Fr Ian
Note: *
ontology is the study of being, so to be ontologically good means we are good
in our very being or existence (God made us good). This can be in contrast to
our moral state, that is, the choices we have made. Though created good in our
being, we have the freedom to choose the good or the evil. So human beings are
always ontologically good no matter what moral choices they make. By confession
we acknowledge the incompatibility of our ontological goodness and our sinful
choices.
