tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1531497517644951122.post3393466290946732540..comments2024-03-21T00:15:48.886-07:00Comments on Philothea on Phire: A Look into the "Liberal Kathlic" MindJayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09927474235629912604noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1531497517644951122.post-64334584775678695822012-10-05T08:20:17.557-07:002012-10-05T08:20:17.557-07:00The trap I often fall into is excusing my sins bec...The trap I often fall into is excusing my sins because they seem small in comparison to the greater sins I see on the news every day. But the reality is that Christ died on the cross because of my sins (this is what, I've always imagined, protestants mean by the phrase "personal savior"). If you want to see what your sin looks like, watch the Mel Gibson movie and think "I did this to Christ all by myself."<br /><br />Why should such seemingly small sins have such a great effect? Well, think about how we get to heaven: “Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matt 5:48 This is not Christ setting an impossibly high standard for us, but it is a description of the reality of what you have to do to go to heaven. This may explain the necessity of Purgatory - the mind rebels at the idea of heaven for only God and the Blessed Virgin. <br /><br />I would guess that one of the main purposes of Christian community is that we can help one another on the road to heaven. We steer eachother away from sin. I rather like the idea of heaven and hell being the same place, but experienced differently by different souls. Just think of the opera buff and the rock fan at the Met - heaven for one, but hell for the other (comparison stolen from Peter Kreeft). Our choices determine if being in the presence of God will be heavenly or not. It cannot be otherwise.Brother Juniperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03106991469009619453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1531497517644951122.post-41832855375238508432012-10-05T07:34:51.397-07:002012-10-05T07:34:51.397-07:00Terry
Outstanding post which should serve as a viv...Terry<br />Outstanding post which should serve as a vivid reminder to all of us. Your words could (and should) have been mine and because you shared them now they are. God BlessAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1531497517644951122.post-49419770442651854802012-10-04T20:02:00.958-07:002012-10-04T20:02:00.958-07:00I just had a special blessing tonight and, in ligh...I just had a special blessing tonight and, in light of this posting, want to comment.<br /><br />I don't think there are too many people who sin with actual malice, i.e., consciously rebelling against God and His laws. No matter what we do, we think that what we are doing is better than not doing it. In short, we always think that what we do is good. Even if we know that what we do is judged wrong in general, we judge our own actions as good within our circumstances. Women don't abort their children because they think it is an evil thing to do. They abort their children because they think it is better to do so than not. In contrast with not aborting their child, aborting their child is good.<br /><br />In general, then, we all think we ought to go to Heaven because we never do anything that we think is truly offensive to God because we never intended to offend Him. God being all good, loving and merciful is more concerned with our intentions than with our actions. That means we can pretty much do anything we want so long as we don't intend to offend God. God is only offended by our intentions, not by anythng that we do. In a strange kind of way, we always sin "in good conscience." Since we are always "in good conscience," God would never reject us.<br /><br />I am 67 years old and have a long history of sinning "in good conscience." I have done things that are objectively evil but which I did anyway because "I had good reasons." Why would I need God's forgiveness when I never intended to offend Him? "God understands."<br /><br />I listened to a sermon tonight that made me aware of how much and how often I have offended God in some pretty serious ways. I was on my way to Mass and I was more than a little shaken. I have already confessed these sins, received absolution, done penance, but tonight I was graced to experience profound and deep sorrow. I was very distracted during Mass and when I received Holy Communion, I just started to cry. And cry. And cry. "I am so sorry" just didn't seem adequate. I had to cry. And I did. I'm tearing up again as I write this.<br /><br />God is God. God is Holy. God is "transcendent ineffability." Sin is so offensive to the All Holy God that it cost our first parents Paradise and infected all their descendants with the effects of their sin. Neither Adam nor Eve intended to offend God but, "in good conscience," they merited Hell. As did I for countless offenses to the One who loved me into being to fill me with Himself.<br /><br />We have the words in the standard Act of Contrition "I detest all my sins because of Thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, My God." It's pretty easy to be sorry for one's sins because one fears Hell. It is a grace to be sorry because your sins offend God "who art all Good and deserving of all my love." Tonight I was blessed with this grace.<br /><br />Don't take lightly that "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions." It's great to rationalize our behavior such that we become God knowing and defining good and evil. I suspect that such rationalizations will be a special torture for us in Hell, our certain destination if we choose ourselves over God.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16785999685192600412noreply@blogger.com