Wednesday of the 5th
Week of Lent
March 16, 2016 6:30am
There is a saying that helps us
to appreciate what Jesus is teaching in this morning’s gospel.
The saying is: “We are not punished for our sins, but we
are punished by our sins.”
There is a lot of truth to this.
For example, if someone talks
negatively about us behind our back or does something else to offend us, and we
refuse to forgive them, hold on to a grudge against them and maybe even want to
get back at them, this is the sin of vengeance.
And this sin ends up punishing
us.
It makes us obsessed and bitter
and angry and distorts us as persons.
And, of course, if we eat or
drink too much, this is the sin of gluttony.
This sin clearly punishes us by
hurting our bodies and possibly even our minds.
Unfaithfulness in our vocation
whether in the priesthood or in marriage is of course a serious sin.
And the sin ends up punishing us.
It ultimately makes us unhappy,
it ruins relationships and destroyes ourt sense of integrity.
So, sin punishes us.
In contrast, today Jesus says: “Truth will set you free.”
This truth is: doing what Jesus
models and teaches is right and wrong, good and bad, following him and his way,
embracing him as our Savior.
This frees us for becoming all
that God has made us to be.
It frees us to be fully alive in
God and to be really happy.
In contrast to that, to go back
to where I began, “We are not punished
for our sins, but we are punished by our sins.”
