ANOTHER TAKE ON TAKING AWAY SINS
FROM THE HUMAN HEART
AND THE MEMORY
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 3rd Tuesday in
Ordinary Time is, “Another Take on Taking Away Sins from the Human Heart and
the Memory.”
As priest I know that people remember their sins - more
than their good things - and many for the rest of their lives.
Even though they have gone to confession - people
remember their past - especially their past sins. When someone tells that past sins keep returning to their memory - I
say - “Of course: we remember our
mistakes. The opposite is dementia.”
FROM TODAY’S FIRST READING
I get this thought and this question from today’s first
reading from Hebrews 10: 1-10.
Today’s first reading says that people make
sacrifices year after year to feel
cleansed of sins - to remove the consciousness - the remembrance of their sins.
The Letter to the Hebrews says a lot about the why of
worship and making sacrifices. It talks especially about the sacrifice of
Christ . It talks about Old Testament sacrifice of animals. Doing this is part of what human beings do to
try to get rid of our memories of our
sins.
Human beings who have cheated on their spouses can tell
you they keep on giving gifts to the other - to make up for our sins.
Was it Irma Bombeck who said, “Guilt: the gift that keeps
on giving.”
SUNDAY EVENING
The title of my homily is, “Another Take on Taking Away
Sins from the Human Heart and the Memory.”
Last Sunday evening I sat in the benches here at St. John
Neumann when Father Ronnie Bonneau was
giving some remarks to the RCIC -
Becoming a Catholic as a kid - and he was talking about going to confession for the first time
- or any time.
He said that God’s motive for forgiving us is love. God
loves us. God wants us to say we’re sorry and to move on.
Well as I listened I found myself thinking the following:
“Maybe we can’t accept that God forgives us, because we can’t forgive those who
hurt us.”
Said in another way, “If we learn to actually forgive
someone who hurt us, then we might learn to realize God forgives us and others
can forgive us.”
Again, if we can really forgive another then we might
realize, “Well, if I can do this, God can do this.”
CONCLUSION
That grabbed me. I
don’t know how well that grabs you. Just as I began thinking about forgiveness
in my own way - when listening to another - maybe you have your own insights.
Forgiving and being forgiven is a lifetime question -
wondering - struggle.
