20200218
THE
POTENTIAL DANGER OF THE ONE SIN THAT IS UNPERCEIVED AND UNCONFESSED
18 February,
2020, Tuesday, 6th Week, Ordinary Time
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
|
First reading
|
James 1:12-18 ©
|
Temptation is not from God
Happy the man who
stands firm when trials come. He has proved himself, and will win the prize of
life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love him.
Never,
when you have been tempted, say, ‘God sent the temptation’; God cannot be
tempted to do anything wrong, and he does not tempt anybody. Everyone who is
tempted is attracted and seduced by his own wrong desire. Then the desire
conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it too has a
child, and the child is death.
Make
no mistake about this, my dear brothers: it is all that is good, everything
that is perfect, which is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of
all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow of a
change. By his own choice he made us his children by the message of the truth
so that we should be a sort of first-fruits of all that he had created.
|
Responsorial
Psalm
|
|
Psalm 93(94):12-15,18-19 ©
|
Happy
the man whom you teach, O Lord.
Happy
the man whom you teach, O Lord,
whom
you train by means of your law;
to
him you give peace in evil days
while
the pit is being dug for the wicked.
Happy
the man whom you teach, O Lord.
The
Lord will not abandon his people
nor
forsake those who are his own;
for
judgement shall again be just
and
all true hearts shall uphold it.
Happy
the man whom you teach, O Lord.
When
I think: ‘I have lost my foothold’;
your
mercy, Lord, holds me up.
When
cares increase in my heart
your
consolation calms my soul.
Happy
the man whom you teach, O Lord.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
cf.Ac16:14
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Open
our heart, O Lord,
to
accept the words of your Son.
Alleluia!
|
Or:
|
Jn14:23
|
Alleluia,
alleluia!
If
anyone loves me he will keep my word,
and
my Father will love him,
and
we shall come to him.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Mark 8:14-21 ©
|
Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast
of Herod
The disciples had
forgotten to take any food and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
Then he gave them this warning, ‘Keep your eyes open; be on your guard against
the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod.’ And they said to one
another, ‘It is because we have no bread.’ And Jesus knew it, and he said to
them, ‘Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand?
Have you no perception? Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see,
ears that do not hear? Or do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves
among the five thousand, how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ They
answered, ‘Twelve.’ ‘And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand,
how many baskets full of scraps did you collect?’ And they answered, ‘Seven.’
Then he said to them, ‘Are you still without perception?’
THE POTENTIAL
DANGER OF THE ONE SIN THAT IS UNPERCEIVED AND UNCONFESSED
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ JAMES 1:12-18; MARK 8:14-21 ]
It is the fundamental
vocation of every Christian to grow in holiness. The path to holiness requires training and
discipline. It calls for a radical decision to root out every sin
from our lives. Without this basic disposition to eradicate sins from our
lives, we would have lost half the battle already, for the Devil knows that we
are hesitant. He will then redouble his efforts to tempt us to sin,
knowing how feeble our desire is to overcome sin.
In the light of the relentless attacks
from the Devil, St James wrote, “Happy the man who stands firm when trials
come.” How can one defend himself from the onslaught of the
temptations of the Evil One? Those who are weak in their spiritual life
of course are easy targets of Satan to recruit into his army.
However, for those who are supposedly good Catholics and Christians, the devil
has devised another effective strategy not only to prevent them from growing in
holiness but to slowly lead them to commit grave sins.
Quite often, so called good
Catholics and spiritual guides are misled into thinking that they do not need
to overcome venial or small sins. Indeed, this is one of the greatest
deception strategies of the devil in leading us to sin. I have even
heard of some priests telling their followers that they need not go for
confession for minor or venial sins. They recommended that such people
need only go for confession once a year. This, precisely, is the cause of
the moral decadence in the spiritual life of our Catholics. Pope St John
Paul II, and Pope Emeritus Benedict have often lamented the crisis of sin as a
consequence of the lack of appreciation and practice of the Sacrament of
Reconciliation. Even the Holy Father himself frequently receives the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. The wisdom of the Church has always encouraged
us to receive the Sacrament regularly, if possible once a month.
Why is regular
confession necessary to grow in holiness? The truth, as St James tells us, is that
sin in us grows from strength to strength. He said, “Everyone who
is tempted is attracted and seduced by his own wrong desire. Then the desire
conceives and gives birth to sin, and when sin is fully grown, it too has a
child, and the child is death.” Yes, sin begins with a desire, and then
it conceives and gives birth to sin. But unfortunately, it does not stop
at one sin but gives birth to other sins and eventually brings about the death,
not just physical but moral and spiritual death of the person.
It is true one sin in itself, especially
when it is a minor one, does not seem to be very significant to the progress of
holiness. In reality, all sins begin with one sin, especially
that sin which is not recognized and dealt with! St John of the Cross
repeatedly warns us that whether a bird is tied to a chain or thread, it still
cannot fly. One who sins, regardless of the gravity, is inviting the
devil to have a foothold in our soul. It is like inviting our enemy to
camp in our territory.
It therefore behooves us
to take every sin seriously.
We must not allow any spiritual cancer cell to take root in our hearts
and in our lives. That is why we must be alert to the temptations of the
Evil One. The first step is therefore to recognize the insidious danger
of sin, big or small. This was what happened to the apostles in
today’s gospel. They were so preoccupied with their attachment to the
bread that Jesus broke for the multitude earlier that they failed to understand
neither the meaning of the miracle nor the sin of the Pharisees and Herod Jesus
was warning them about. Because of their one attachment to the bread,
their one sin, they lost focus of the more essential and important things of
life. Indeed, Jesus knew why and reprimanded them saying. “Why are you
talking about having no bread? Do you not yet understand? Have you no perception?
Are your minds closed? Have you eyes that do not see, ears that do not
hear? Or do you not remember? … Are you still without perception?”
Yes, the scripture readings invite us to strive
after goodness which comes from God alone, as St James remarked, “Make
no mistake about this, my dear brothers; it is all that is good, everything
that is perfect, which is given us from above; it comes down from the Father of
all light; with him there is no such thing as alteration, no shadow of a
change.” Indeed, anything that is not good comes from the
evil one and from the desires of the corrupted heart. God has created us
to live in the truth and in the light. We, as St James says, “By his own
choice he made us his children by the message of the truth so that we should be
a sort of first-fruits of all that he had created.” We must exercise
spiritual sensitivity to distinguish the beginning of sin taking root in our
hearts and not wait until it is full grown. By then, it might be too
difficult to deal with the full-grown child of sin.
So if we want to grow in
holiness and share in the perfection of God’s life, we must stand firm against
the wiles of the Devil. We
must put up every resistance so that we can overcome every sin in us.
Yes, if we do that, then St James says, “He has proved himself, and will win
the prize of life, the crown that the Lord has promised to those who love
him.” Otherwise, we have allowed our enemy to begin slowly, but surely,
the work of destruction in our lives.
To help us overcome sin, especially the
beginning of sin, we must be familiar with the Word of God, His
commandments, as the responsorial psalm exhorts us. “Blessed the
man whom you instruct, O Lord, whom by your law you teach, Giving him rest from
evil days … When I say, “My foot is slipping,” your mercy, O Lord, sustains me;
When cares abound within me, your comfort gladdens my soul.” Truly we
must turn to the Word of God to enlighten our minds and the conscience of our
hearts. We must also do a regular examen of how God is absent or present
in our daily events. By examining our thoughts and actions at least once
or twice a day, we can become more alert and sensitive to the Spirit at work in
us. In this way, through prayer, meditation, reflection and daily examen,
we will always be prepared when the enemy comes into our lives even in very
subtle situations.
Finally, let us implore the help of the
Holy Spirit so that He can enlighten us and give us the necessary grace to
resist sin the moment we know it is a sin. Perception must be
followed by action. We must immediately put into practice the
resolution we make regarding the insight we receive from the Holy Spirit.
By hesitating and procrastinating, we will only allow the Devil to find new
ways to enter into our lives. Let us put the grace of God into practice.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment