2 Samuel 12:7-10.13 Galatians 2:16.19-21 Luke 7:36-8:3
The liturgical color green has once again returned to our Lord’s Day Mass, and this of course signifies that we have at last entered the longest season of the Church Year—the season of Ordinary Time after Pentecost. This is the season which takes us through the summer and fall months, from the end of Easter to the beginning of Advent. The color green represents life and growth—not only the life of Christ which we examine in our Gospel readings, but also our life in Christ and our growth in God’s grace. It’s appropriate, then, that we begin the season of Ordinary Time by being reminded that we are indeed sinners and in need of God’s forgiveness.
In my experience, modern-day Catholics tend not to think of sin very much—at least not of their own sinfulness. And when we do think about this, it tends to be at specific times of the year—Advent and Lent—when penance services are offered and we think about going to confession. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with penance services, and there’s certainly nothing wrong with folks going to confession. But if this only happens once or twice a year, then there’s something terribly wrong. Why? Because, if we’re honest with ourselves, sin is always a part of our lives and when we find ourselves falling into serious sin, it would be a dangerous mistake to put off confessing that sin until the next time a penance service rolls around. It’s like the man who says, “I have my physical checkup every spring. Last October I got seriously ill, but it wasn’t time for my checkup so I didn’t go to the doctor.” We would say that man was not very wise—he might have died from his illness or it could have done serious damage to his physical being, and when he finally did make it to the doctor, it might be too late to effectively treat the illness. Or the man might not even remember enough about his malady to get any help from the doctor. Even worse, the man might get used to his illness and begin to think of it as a normal part of his life, when all the time he could have found healing and relief if he had just gone to the doctor.
Well, nobody would be that foolish with their physical health; but how many of us make this very same mistake when it comes to our spiritual health? We find ourselves in sin and yet we neglect to confess it because it’s not Lent or Advent. We remain in that state becoming more and more sinful and becoming more and more accustomed to that condition. Pretty soon we begin to convince ourselves we’re really not that bad off—not that sinful. After all, we’re not as bad as so-and-so who really needs to go to confession!
This brings us to today’s Gospel. There are really two sinners in the story: the first, of course, is the woman who falls at Jesus’ feet weeping with repentance. She is the one who loves much because she was forgiven much. But who’s the other sinner? It’s the self-righteous Pharisee who despises and condemns the sinful woman and thinks of himself as better than everyone else. Despite an outward show of piety, his love for God was very small because he was forgiven very little. And not because there wasn’t enough material there to forgive! But simply because he did not recognize his own sinfulness—his pride and arrogance, his judgmental spirit and his lack of respect for others.
Which one of these two sinners do you identify with? The one who is satisfied with his life, who thinks of himself as doing pretty well, who doesn’t really need forgiveness? Or the one who sees herself as she really is, acknowledges her sinfulness and turns to the Lord with repentance and sorrow?
How do we gauge this in our own lives? The Lord gives us the yardstick: it is the measure of our love for God which indicates how much we have been forgiven. Notice in the story that love is the result of forgiveness, not the other way around. In other words the woman was not forgiven because she had so much love for God, rather her love for God was so great because her many sins were forgiven. By the same token, the Pharisee’s love for God was very weak because he did not avail himself of God’s forgiveness. So if our own love for God is small, perhaps it’s because we have not recognized our sinfulness and have not received the Lord’s forgiveness.
God has established in his Church the ordinary method to obtain forgiveness of sins: it is the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. And this Sacrament is available year round—not just during Advent and Lent. Do not neglect your spiritual health; take advantage of the healing and peace this Sacrament provides. The Pharisee put blinders over his eyes because he made excuses for himself and rationalized away his sins. He didn’t experience forgiveness, he didn’t know what it really meant to love God because he refused to repent. Don’t follow his example. Instead, say with today’s Psalm, “I acknowledge my sin to you, my guilt I covered not. I said, I confess my faults to the Lord, and you took away the guilt of my sin.”
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