This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
“If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?” This is what the psalm asks today.
And indeed, Jesus is very demanding in the gospel. Even anger in the heart, even verbal condemnation of another, is enough to incur God’s judgement.
And in the first reading, we learn that this judgement is the difference between eternal life and eternal death.
So what do we do, when we are aware that we sin often? “If you, O Lord, mark iniquities, who can stand?”
The Protestants decided effectively to give up in this battle, at least as concerns its critical nature for salvation. They yield to the conviction of remaining forever corrupt, but Jesus covers them with His white mantle of salvation, thereby in effect hiding their corruption from the eyes of the Father. Thus it is that God does not “mark” their “iniquities.”
But we need not give up so fast. If we look closer, we also see in the first reading:
“If the wicked man turns away from all the sins he committed,
if he keeps all my statutes and does what is right and just,
he shall surely live, he shall not die.
None of the crimes he committed shall be remembered against him.”
Even if we sin often, if we continually turn back and sincerely repent from that sin, God does not “mark” our “iniquities,” but rather slowly works in us a profound transformation, by which even the tendency to sin is profoundly weakened. This, if we stay close to Him in prayer and in the sacraments.
Indeed, Proverbs tells us, “Though the just fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble from only one mishap.”
So what is your decision? To be just, or to be wicked? If it is to be just, then hold to that with confidence, avoiding sin and returning immediately to God when you have found, like St. Paul, that you have done what you hate. (cf. Rm. 7:15)
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Tell Jesus that your hope is not in your own virtue, but in His power, the power He exercised in saving us on the Cross. Tell Him that you embrace and accept His desire to transform you from the inside out into a profoundly holy person. Invite Him again to take over and transform your life.
Follow the Author on Twitter:Follow @mvhaywilliams