Scripture readings for this meditation can be found at Friday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time | USCCB
The response in our Responsorial Psalm for today,
“Lord, teach me your statutes” is a prayer that I’m sure St. Paul prayed often.
Having God’s law in our hearts to help us lead a life in the fullness of God’s
love is something that we should all strive to have.
In our first reading from St. Paul to the Romans we
hear of Paul’s struggles to live out the statutes of God. He’s willing and
anxious to do the good that God wants him to do but goes on to admit that
temptation to turn away from God is always ever present. Paul says, “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” (Romans 7:19) Sometimes the
temptation to turn away from God can be overpowering. There are so many
temptations that can be hard to resist. There are the sins of the flesh, there
are the sins of love of money, material wealth and power, plus so many other
things that can take our focus away from the commandments of God.
As we continue to read from Paul to the Romans, he says
that even though “evil is at hand,” he indicates that “I take delight in the law of God in my inner self.” (Romans 7:22) Like Paul, we all struggle with those temptations
to sin which separate us from God. Paul struggled, but he always turned back to
God in order to make amends to the Creator and to ask for forgiveness and
attempt to be better in his relationship with Christ.
We are called to imitate Paul in always turning back
to God even when we sin. The Lord Jesus Christ has provided us a beautiful way
to seek out forgiveness of sins and to be healed of those sins that haunt us.
It is in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) that we can turn back to
Christ during those times when we gave into the temptation to sin. We are
turning back to God and asking for forgiveness, and through the absolution from
the priest, we receive healing to be able to go back into the community to
attempt to live out a life of service to God and love of our neighbor. We try
our best not to sin again, but thankfully the door to the sacrament of
confession is always available. Going to confession doesn’t mean you won’t sin
again; it just helps you to grow closer to God and helps you to get that
strength to avoid those temptations to sin again. Whether during the regularly
scheduled time for confessions on Saturday afternoon, or anytime during the
week when you see a priest just let him know you want to go to confession, and
he’ll arrange to see you in order to bring you God’s love and forgiveness.
Mother St. Teresa of Calcutta once said, “Only to confession can we go as sinners
with sin and come out as sinners without sin.”
Lord Jesus, have mercy
on us!
From Arlene B. Muller
ReplyDeleteOn the surface it is relatively easy to keep the Ten Commandments as a cradle Catholic who has been brought up well by wonderful devout parents & received a Catholic education & been close to GOD, the Church & the sacraments throughout life & has had no or minimal desire to be touched by the temptations of the world & the flesh & aware of the consequences of the sins of the world & the flesh without needing to experience them & has been living seeking to please GOD.
But ironically the people who got into the most trouble with JESUS & even opposed Him even to the point of causing Him to be crucified were the so-called "religious people" who prided themselves on keeping even the letter of the Law & going beyond it. That's pretty scary!
This means that we (I) need to look below & beyond the surface & beyond our (my)actions & even our (my)words & into our hearts (my heart). Part of this means looking into our (my) hearts & into our (my) thoughts, feelings & attitudes, listening to how we (i) speak & looking at what we (I) write about others who have not been as blessed & have ventured into following worldly ways & engaging in sins of the flesh & have not lived the sheltered life that we (I )have.
For example, it is not too difficult to avoid telling an outright lie. But telling the truth that other people are not entitled to know could be the sin of detraction. And it is easy to fall into the trap of speculation & making assumptions about what is in a person's heart on the basis of their words & actions, especially when feeling justified to judge politicians who call themselves "Catholic" while endorsing unrighteous policies such as endorsing abortion and the extremes of the LGBTQ+ agenda. The challenge is to walk the fine line of hating the sin while loving the sinner.
It's easy to miss our sins. So it's probably helpful to ask the LORD what David asks Him at the end of Psalm 139: to ask Him Who knows us intimately & knows everything about us & inside us while still loving us unconditionally to examine & test us & reveal to us whatever evil may be inside of us & to guide us in the everlasting way.