Monday of the 2nd
Week of Lent
March 2, 2015 8:30am
I think it is fair to say that we
live in an era when we often make excuses for our behavior.
We blame what we do on our
upbringing, on how our parents treated us or raised us.
We blame it on our genes, that
this is just the way the Irish or the Italians are.
Or we blame it on our
environment, that the culture or the way of the world today or TV makes us the
way we are.
There is some truth to each of
these statements.
But, we still retain some free
will or freedom to choose.
And so, I believe we can and do
sin.
That really is the truth.
The prophet Daniel in today’s
first reading is speaking for himself and his people.
He says: “We have sinned, been wicked, and done evil.
We have departed from your commandments.
We have not obeyed.”
Maybe Daniel’s intense and
unambiguous words make us uncomfortable.
Maybe we in our day and age don’t
want to say so explicitly: we have sinned.
One of our Catholic authors says
that maybe we need a revival of our creatureliness.
Sometimes we act as if we and God
are on the same level.
But the truth is that we are God
creatures.
We come from God and are nothing
apart from God.
If we remember this, then maybe
we feel an appropriate responsibility for what we say and do.
In fact, that is what the ashes
on Ash Wednesday are all about and that is what this Season of Lent is all
about.
So let’s remember our
creatureliness and be willing to own our sinfulness.
