Sunday, August 26, 2018

God's Mercy Outweighs Our Sins

Rio's Christ the Redeemer
According to a Grand Jury Report in Pennsylvania, over a 70-year period, about 2% of clergy committed despicable crimes of abuse, and bishops covered them up.  Two-thirds of those accused are dead; but allegations against them were deemed credible.

For the past sixteen years, policies and protocols are in place to safeguard children and vulnerable adults, and these protocols require regular review and improvement.

These incidents are but one reminder that the community of disciples is also made up of sinners. We must continually – each and every one of us -- ask for God's grace and forgiveness, be “doers of the word,” and rebuild community.

In the Gospel according to John, Jesus challenges the disciples to make a choice: believe in him as God’s holy One. What do the disciples do? Some walked away. Others stayed, acknowledging, “…to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

Eternal life is ultimately a gift from God. But Jesus says that we have to struggle to enter through the narrow gate into the kingdom of God.

Many people struggle during the cycle of human development. God is with us through the narrow gates of life. Our faith can sustain us.

Our faith fosters a healthy self-image. We are made in the image and likeness of God, and through baptism, God lives within us, and we live within God.

Our faith satisfies our longing for happiness. Within every human being there is a subconscious quest for the ultimate, the all-good. St. Augustine wrote, “O God, you have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” Our primary purpose is to be in relationship with God and one another forever, and in that relationship our yearnings for happiness are completely satisfied.

Our faith gives us a sense of belonging, linked together by a common bond of faith in Jesus Christ, with heroes and heroines who inspire us, saints who encourage us in our pursuit of God and God’s pursuit of us. God gives us each other to support and protect each other.

We gather to thank God, to acknowledge our absolute dependency upon God as our Creator, and to ask God in the Our Father prayer to satisfy our basic needs. These encounters with the triune God are wrapped up in the mystery of the sacraments. God in particular gives us sacraments of healing, service, and grace. Jesus assures us that God’s mercy outweighs our sins.

Finally, God provides us with a guide with the best news ever: how God offers each one of us salvation through Jesus. The Bible demonstrates God’s unconditional love. As we go through narrow gates of life, with fears and weakness at times, embracing our faith in Jesus Christ will sustain us so that we can eventually enter safely through that final gate into the kingdom of God.