Return, Israel, to the Lord, your God; you
have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take
with you words, and return to the Lord; Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and
take what is good. Let us offer the fruit of our lips.[1]
It is often extremely difficult for
us to see our faults, our sins. We, many
times, live lives that is right in our own eyes. This is a result of original sin. This is what Satan was speaking of when he
told Eve, “Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like gods, who know good
and evil.”[2] As a result, many times we disagree with
Scripture—God’s word—and his Body, the Church, thinking that what we believe is
more rational or relevant. If we
disagree with God, then we are putting ourselves above him, making ourselves god. We do not believe we are wicked; therefore,
we see no need of repentance. However,
our defense of ourselves holds no water in comparison to the truth of God. When we see the true holiness of God, we can only
hold our heads in shame, becoming speechless.
In the Old Testament, Israel—the
northern kingdom—also did not see wickedness in themselves. They believed they were worshipping the true
God, and they felt that, if they were not prospering, they were at least comfortable. That is us.
This is one of the things we strive for: comfort. Therefore, we subconsciously make ourselves
the judge of what will make us comfortable.
We need to constantly realize that we are not the Judge, that God is not
working to make us comfortable, but is working to remove the dross from us. God is holy, and sin cannot be in his
presence.
The Roman soldiers placed a crown of
thorns upon our Lord’s head. Those
thorns can be representative of mankind.
Those thorns, God is turning into a glorious crown. It is not riches, nice clothes, etc., that
makes that crown glorious; it is humility and suffering. We are shown this by our Lord’s life on this
earth.
We inherently compare ourselves to
other people, and it is by this means that we probably consider ourselves as
not being wicked. We live in shades of
gray. What we need to do is see things more
as black and white. White is holiness,
saints; black is wickedness, sinners. We
need to compare ourselves to God, and then we will see ourselves as
wicked. St. John holds this view. He tells us: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say, “We have fellowship with him,”
while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth.[3] If we look at these words as black and white,
we know that darkness is in; and, therefore, we are not in a perfect
relationship with him. This must grieve
us. Seeing our wickedness and thereby
causing our repentance, we will have hope.
But if we walk in the light as he
is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of his
Son Jesus cleanses us from all sin. If
we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we acknowledge our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every
wrongdoing. If we say, “We have not
sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.[4]
Our admittance of our wickedness
causes humility; it shows our weakness.
It is this weakness which we should boast of. It is this weakness which will make us
strong. As St. Paul teaches us: “…for power is made perfect in weakness.” I
will rather boast most gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of
Christ may dwell with me. Therefore, I am content with weaknesses, insults,
hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ; for when I am
weak, then I am strong.”[5] It is then that these words will have meaning
for us: Return, O Israel, to the Lord
your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord;
say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept that which is good, and we will
render the fruit of our lips.[6]
Scripture tells us
that Israel had become guilty, for she had rebelled against God.[7] I think it would be safe for us to presume
that Israel did not realize this fact.
We can conclude this from the words Amazia spoke to the prophet, Amos: “Off with you, seer, flee to the land of
Judah and there earn your bread by prophesying! But never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is
the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple.”[8] Amos was prophesying words of destruction,
and Israel did not like this. We, very
often, are much like this. We hold
ourselves in the best light, and we do not like others telling us things we
don’t agree with. This is what can be
interpreted from the words “king’s sanctuary” and “royal temple.” We act as though we are “number one,” “king.” If only Israel had believed, good would have
come to them. Likewise, when we see who
and what we really are, goodness will come upon us: I will listen for what God, the Lord, has to say; surely, he will speak
of peace to his people and to his faithful.[9] Although the words that the prophets were
seemingly harsh, they were words of peace—if they had adhered to those words. Love
and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss. Truth will spring from the earth; justice will
look down from heaven.[10]
Let us come to the realization of
who we are, and pray with the psalmist: Have
mercy on me, O God, according to thy steadfast love; according to thy abundant
mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash
me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin![11] Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take
not thy holy Spirit from me. Restore to
me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and
sinners will return to thee.[12]
We are our own worst enemy. This is because we very often live by our
feelings and passions. In the sixth
chapter of the Gospel according to St. Mark, we read: He summoned the Twelve and began to send them out two by two and gave
them authority over unclean spirits. He
instructed them to take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no
sack, no money in their belts. They were, however, to wear sandals but not a
second tunic. He said to them, “Wherever
you enter a house, stay there until you leave from there. Whatever place does not welcome you or listen
to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against
them.” So they went off and preached
repentance. They drove out many demons,
and they anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.[13] We must realize that Judas was one of the
Twelve. He was also doing these great
works. He had made a decision to follow
Jesus, and he was chosen as one of the apostles. Perhaps, Judas was on our Lord’s mind when he
spoke the words: “Not everyone who says
to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who
does the will of my Father in heaven. Many
will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did
we not drive out demons in your name? Did we not do mighty deeds in your name?’
Then I will declare to them solemnly, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you
evildoers’.”[14] Judas was living by his feelings and passions. It is ill-advised for us to look down upon
Judas, when we should be seeing ourselves in him and, as a result, repent.
Let us presume for a moment that,
much like ourselves, Judas did not think that he was greedy. Let us also presume that, in some way, he
even justified in his mind that the money he was taking from the purse was not
really stealing. This is what we often
do. We attempt to justify why it is okay
for us to do what we do and say what we say.
The danger is: We are hardening our hearts just as Judas had. When we attempt to justify our actions, we
are saying that we do not desire to repent, and we do not desire the peace of
God in this matter. If we are not
careful, this will continue more and more.
Just as callouses do not come immediately upon us but occurs gradually,
so is the hardening of our hearts. It is
God’s word and the teaching of his Church which works repentance and confession
in us and keeps our hearts tender. It is
repentance and confession, along with prayer, which will save us from
ourselves.
St. Paul tells us: Do you not know that the runners in the
stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win. Every athlete exercises discipline in every
way. They do it to win a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one. Thus, I do not run aimlessly; I do not fight
as if I were shadowboxing. No, I drive
my body and train it, for fear that, after having preached to others, I myself
should be disqualified.[15] This
is our cooperation with the works of God; this is part of the suffering we must
endure. What St. James tells us
coincides with this: Where do the wars
and where do the conflicts among you come from? Is it not from your passions that make war
within your members? You covet but do
not possess. You kill and envy but you
cannot obtain; you fight and wage war. You
do not possess because you do not ask. You
ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. Adulterers! Do you not know that to be a lover of the
world means enmity with God? Therefore,
whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.[16] We need to be praying that God help us to
overcome our feelings and passions.
Considering the words of St. James,
we now understand that Israel had committed adultery against God. Nevertheless, God, because of his abundant
love, desired that they have peace with him.
He forewarned them of prevailing danger; however, they did not understand—nor
did they desire to understand--for they only wanted to hear things that pleased
them. Like Israel, we commit adultery
against God many times. Out of his
abundant love, he is calling to us to repent.
Return, Israel, to the Lord, your
God; you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words, and return to the Lord;
Say to him, “Forgive all iniquity, and take what is good. Let us offer the
fruit of our lips. In response to
his love, let us reply: Let me hear what
God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints,
to those who turn to him in their hearts.
Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that glory may
dwell in our land.[17] If you, Lord, keep account of sins, Lord,
who can stand?[18] How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make
me know my transgression and my sin.[19] My iniquities have gone over my head; they
weigh like a burden too heavy for me.[20] Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy
steadfast love; according to thy abundant mercy blot out my
transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and
cleanse me from my sin![21] Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take
not thy holy Spirit from me. Restore to
me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.
The concupiscence within us causes
us to want to justify our desires, feelings, and passions. The way
of fools is right in their own eyes.[22] We must fight this, but this is like a
toddler fighting an adult. We are too
weak. This we must confess; and, thereby,
in our weakness, we will become strong.
Christ will, then, do our fighting for us. However, let us not become disillusioned that
there will be ease. When St. Paul
instructed us regarding this, what had occurred prior? …A
thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me, to keep me
from being too elated.[23] In the poem, Footprints in the Sand,
we read: “In each scene, I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints;
other times there were one set of footprints.”
The Lord told the person, “The times when you have seen only one set of
footprints is when I carried you.”
Nonetheless, when were these times?
“During the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish,
sorrow, or defeat.” Although in our
weakness Christ is strong, we still undergo the suffering, just as St. Paul
did. When we are fighting our desires,
feelings, and passions, it is Christ who is causing us to overcome;
nevertheless, we feel the pain.
From St. Augustine, we learn: “By your
Gift (the Holy Spirit), we are inflamed and are borne upwards; we wax hot
inwardly and go forwards. We ascend your
ways that be in our heart (cf. Ps 84:5) and sing a song of degrees; we glow
inwardly with your fire, with your good fire, and we go, because we go upwards
to the peace of Jerusalem; for glad was I when they said unto me, ‘Let us go
into the house of the Lord (cf. Ps 122:1).’ There has your good pleasure placed us, that
we may desire no other thing than to dwell there forever.”[24] Fire burns, is painful, burning away all that
is bad/harmful within us.
The pain should give us hope. It should cause us to recall that God is doing
a good work within us, answering our prayers.
It gives us hope. It reminds us
that this hope is not a wishful thinking, but is a concrete thing, something
that is taking place within us now and will be fulfilled in the future—if we persevere
to the end (cf. Col 1:21-23, 2 Ti 2:12).
Even this perseverance does not come by our strength, but his. But his allowing us to suffer allows us to
cooperate with what he is doing and also gives us this hope.
Pope Benedict XVI tells us: “…Every
statement about the Faith is ordered to the four basic elements: the Creed, the Our Father, the Decalogue (the
Ten Commandments), and the sacraments.
The whole foundation of Christian life
is thereby included—the synthesis of the Church’s teaching as it is based on
Scripture and Tradition. Christians find
here what they are to believe (the
Symbolum or Creed), what they are to hope
(the Our
Father), what they are to do (the
Decalogue or Ten Commandments), and the ambience in which all this is to be
accomplished (the sacraments).”[25] Everything we need to return to God, and
remain, is contained in the great gift Jesus has given us: his Body, the
Catholic Church. Justice and mercy kiss
in the Church.
Because it is often difficult for us to
see our own faults, we ask God to reveal our sins to us. Most often, he is going to do this by
utilizing others and the Church. When
others tell us our fault, or get angry with us, many times it will not be in a
kind manner; but we need to keep the mindset that it is from God, showing us
our sins. When they act this way to us,
we must be gentle and kind in return. We
learn this from what happened to King David: And David said to Abishai and to all his servants (when Shime-i cursed
King David), “Behold, my own son seeks my
life; how much more now may this Benjaminite! Let him alone, and let him curse;
for the Lord has bidden him. It may be that the Lord will look upon my
affliction, and that the Lord will repay me with good for this cursing of me
today.”[26] God can also reveal our sins through the
Church, utilizing the prayers, readings, and homilies. We can often find them in the readings that we
feel “have no relevance to us,” that “do not apply to us.” Those are the ones we need to give most heed
to. Realizing that we are our own worst
enemy, we can be extremely cautious, allowing God to subdue that great enemy.
Marriage can be a good example. A marriage is more harmonious when both
spouses desire giving more than receiving, when each seeks the good of the
other more than what they want to receive or their own “happiness” or what they
think they might deserve. Even if it is
only one spouse who has this mindset, the marriage will probably be good. That spouse will have the mindset of King
David: “Let my spouse curse me, for the Lord has bidden him/her. It may be that the Lord will look upon my
affliction and that the Lord will repay us with good for this cursing of me
today.” And, then, we pray for our
spouse. We, likewise, can keep this
mindset in our interactions with those we come in contact with daily. As St. John Chrysostom instructs us: If you
are a severe judge of the sins of others, what defense can you make in matters
wherein you yourself do amiss, by saying that you are ignorant of what things
ought to be done?[27] If we are harsh judges of the sins of others,
should we not also be judged harshly for our sins—whether done in ignorance or
with full knowledge?
In another place, Chrysostom teaches us: “If
you speak of the [sins] of others, you are [in] no wise profited, neither have
you gained anything but have ruined yourself. If you confess your own [sins] to the Lord, you
have great reward: for one says, ‘I said, I will confess against myself mine
iniquity to the Lord, and you forgave the impiety of my heart’ (Ps 32:5).”[28] When we speak bad of another’s faults, we are
saying that we are better than them. To
the contrary, St. Paul tells us, “…in humility, count others better than
yourselves.”[29] This does not mean that we should not grieve
over the sins of others, but we should pray for them. As St. Jerome says, “Good men have always
sorrowed for the sins of others.”[30]
Returning to John Chrysostom, we learn: “He
who weeps for the sins of others will not pass by his own transgressions unwept
or, rather, he will not quickly sin. But
this is dreadful: that, when we are ordered to grieve for them that sin, we do
not even exhibit any repentance for our own sins but, when sinning, remain
without feeling…”[31] We need to see our sins in the sins of
others. Otherwise, we are pointing
fingers and putting ourselves above them, when we are not the Judge of who is
better. When we point fingers, thinking others
are worse than us, we have become like the Pharisee: ‘God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust,
adulterers, or even like this tax collector.[32] He did not go to his house justified (cf. Lk
18:14).
“I am not wicked”—or am I? If we do not think we are wicked, we have
nothing to repent of. Someone might say,
“I sin, but I am not wicked.” The
problem becomes: We are not the Judge.
We see ourselves in the best light.
If we see the worst in ourselves, we cry out to God for help. If we do not, we do not grieve, crying out to
God. Let us be like the tax collector,
crying out, “God, be merciful to me a
sinner!”[33] Then we will go to our house justified. We are much better off seeing ourselves
wicked and repenting.
[1] New American Bible, Revised
Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,
2011), Ho 14:2–3.
[2]
Ibid., Ge 3:5.
[3] Ibid.,
1 Jn 1:5–6.
[4] Ibid.,
1 Jn 1:7–10.
[5]
Ibid., 2 Co 12:9–10.
[6]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition,
(New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ho 14:1–2.
[7] New American Bible, Revised
Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops,
2011), Ho 14:1.
[8]
Ibid., Am 7:12–13.
[9] Ibid.,
Ps 85:9.
[10] Ibid.,
Ps 85:11–12.
[11]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition,
(New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ps 51:1–2.
[12] Ibid.,
Ps 51:10–13.
[13] New American Bible, Revised Edition.,
(Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Mk
6:7–13.
[14] Ibid.,
Mt 7:21–23.
[15] Ibid.,
1 Co 9:24–27.
[16] Ibid.,
Jas 4:1–4.
[17]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition,
(New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Ps 85:8–9.
[18] New American Bible, Revised
Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011),
Ps 130:3.
[19]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition,
(New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Job 13:23.
[20] Ibid.,
Ps 38:4.
[21] Ibid.,
Ps 51:1–2.
[22] New American Bible,
Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops, 2011), Pr 12:15.
[23] Catholic
Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition,
(New York: National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), 2 Co 12:7.
[24]
Augustine of Hippo, The Confessions and
Letters of St. Augustin with a Sketch of His Life and Work, 1886, 1,
192–193.
[25]
Joseph Ratzinger, Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the
Year, ed. Irene Grassl, (San Francisco: Ignatius
Press, 1992), 224.
[26]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), 2 Sa 16:11–12.
[27]
John Chrysostom, Saint Chrysostom: On the
Priesthood, Ascetic Treatises, Select Homilies and Letters, Homilies on the
Statues, 1889, 9, 424.
[28]
John Chrysostom, Saint Chrysostom:
Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and Epistle to the Hebrews, 1889, 14,
464.
[29]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Php 2:3.
[30]
Jerome, St. Jerome: Letters and Select
Works, 1893, 6, 225.
[31]
John Chrysostom, Saint Chrysostom:
Homilies on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians,
Timothy, Titus, and Philemon, 1889, 13, 255.
[32]
Catholic Biblical Association (Great Britain), The Holy Bible:
Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition, (New York: National
Council of Churches of Christ in the USA, 1994), Lk 18:11.
[33] Ibid.,
Lk 18:13.
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