At the Feet of Jesus

Divine Mercy

We Fall Down
Words and Music by Chris Tomlin

We fall down
We lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus

The greatness of
Mercy and Love
At the feet of Jesus

And we cry
Holy, Holy, Holy
And we cry
Holy, Holy, Holy
And we cry
Holy, Holy, Holy
Is the Lamb

This weekend, we celebrated the Feast of Divine Mercy, which is a rather new feast in the Church, and yet, at the same time, a really old feast, too. It was added to the Liturgical Calendar by Pope John Paul II in 2000, and yet there are still many Catholics who don't know anything about it, so I thought I would begin with a brief history of the feast.

Way back in the time of the Church Fathers, the Sunday after Easter was known as Dominica in Albis, or Sunday in White (or Whitsunday). This was because at the Easter Vigil, the newly baptised Catholics were given a white garment which represented the new purity of their souls, which they would wear for the whole week of Easter. On Dominica in Albis, they took off their white robes and put them in a place of special remembrance for them. On this feast, St. Augustine would say to his parishioners at this moment, "Let not our interior purity be lessened as we set aside its exterior symbols." (#156, Dominica in Albis) St. Augustine calls these days "days of mercy and pardon" (# 156, Dominica in Albis) and the Sunday "the compendium of the days of mercy."

Moreover, my patron saint, St. Gregory of Nazianzus, one of the greatest Doctors of the Church, says that this Octave day of Easter is even a greater Feast than Easter though it takes nothing whatever away from the greatness of the Day of the Resurrection itself. Easter Sunday is the boundary between death and life (a creation). But its eighth day, the Octave, is the fulfillment of what Easter is all about - perfect life in eternity (a second creation, more admirable and more sublime than the first).

Over the centuries, however, the greatness of this feast was seemingly forgotten by the Church, until in the 1930's, Jesus Himself began appearing in visions to a Polish nun, St. Maria Faustyna of the Most Holy Eucharist (or just St. Faustina). He said to her,

I am giving them the last hope of salvation; that is, the Feast of My Mercy. If they will not adore My mercy, they will perish for all eternity... tell souls about this great mercy of Mine, because the awful day, the day of My justice, is near.

On that day the very depths of My tender mercy are open. I pour out a whole ocean of graces upon those souls who approach the found of My mercy. The soul that will go to Confession and receive Holy Communion shall obtain complete forgiveness of sins and punishment.

On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened.

You will prepare the world for My final coming.

Before I come as a just Judge, I first open wide the door of my mercy. (Quotes taken from various locations in St. Faustina's Diary.)

When St. Faustina told the Bishop of Cracow that Jesus wanted this feast instituted, she was told that there already was such a feast, and she shouldn't trouble herself or him with these things. Rebuffed, she reported this to Jesus the next time He appeared, and He answered, "And who knows anything about this feast? No one! Even those who should be proclaiming My mercy and teaching people about it often do not know about it themselves. That is why I want the image to be solemnly blessed on the First Sunday after Easter, and I want it to be venerated publicly so that every soul may know about it."

However, the feast never came to be recognised by the Universal Church until April 30th, 2000--the date of St. Faustina's canonisation. And on this day, it was another Archbishop of Cracow who had the honours--though by now he was the Pope!

On May 13th, 1981, there was an assassination on Pope John Paul II's life. Critically wounded by a gunshot, he was taken to the hospital. While recovering there, the Pope had the Diary of St. Faustina re-read to him. Upon his recovery, he visited his would-be assailant in prison. After he left the prison, the media wanted to know what he and his assassin had talked about. But all the Pope said was that the details were between he and his assailant, but he did clearly state, "I have forgiven him as a brother and a friend."

This forgiveness of the Pope wasn't simply a pious platitude or the sanctimonious posturing of a "religious" man. It was genuine. As proof of this, Pope John Paul II kept up regular correspondence with the man and his family. He even urged prayer for his "brother". Toward the end of his battle with Parkinson's, John Paul II's former assailant actually wrote to wish him well in his illness, expressing hope that the Pope would live to carry on his work! This man, who formerly tried to kill the Pope, was deeply grieved on the day of his funeral, that he could not be allowed to go to Rome to mourn!

That is the power of mercy! And the example of the Pope's mercy on this man reminds us of Jesus' mercy for us. Jesus said that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friends, but Romans tells us that Jesus laid down His life for His enemies, in order to make them friends! That unfathomable mercy is what the Pope declared we celebrate on Divine Mercy Sunday!

Now, of course, to discuss Mercy, we need to have a need for Mercy. In other words, Mercy is closely related to Forgiveness--and Forgiveness requires something to forgive. And all of us need forgiveness. We all need Mercy. Way back at the beginning, the original people, Adam and Eve, disobeyed God and lost the life of Grace that He created them to live in. But they didn't just lose that Grace for themselves; they lost it for all of us. This is the notion of Original Sin--that, in a sense, we have all been sold into slavery to sin. We inherit this slave-state just as the son of a slave is born into slavery. As slaves to sin, we're subject to its control in our lives--meaning, we can't simply blame Adam and Eve for ruining things for us, as though we don't have our own responsibility. As the Bible clearly tells us, we've all sinned. We all need to be set free.

And so, Jesus came, as He said, "not to be served, but to serve, and to give Himself as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). Romans 11:32 tells us, "God has imprisoned all human beings in their own disobedience only to show mercy to them all." In other words, God allowed Adam and Eve to choose to disobey Him, in order to subject us all to our own disobedience, for the sole purpose of demonstrating the true, unfathomable greatness of His Divine Mercy to those who would accept it! At the Cross, Jesus paid the debt for our sins, to ransom us out of slavery and give us new life in Him. We find this Mercy for Sins at the foot of the Cross:

Carrying His own cross He went out to the Place of the Skull or, as it is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him with two others, one on either side, Jesus being in the middle....
It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies' remaining on the cross during the Sabbath--since that Sabbath was a day of special solemnity--the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw He was already dead, and so instead of breaking His legs one of the soldiers pierced His side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it--true evidence, and he knows that what he says is true--and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture:

'Not one bone of His will be broken;'

and again, in another place scripture says:

'They will look to the one whom they have pierced.'

(John 19:17-18, 31-37)

John the Apostle watched as the Centurion pierced the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and the flood of water and blood that flowed out twigged in his mind the words of the prophet Zechariah, who prophesied:

'But over the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem I shall pour out a spirit of grace and prayer, and tehy will look to Me. They will mourn for the One whom they have pierced as though for an only child, and weep for Him as people weep for a first-born child. When that day comes, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon in the Plain of Meggido...
'When that Day comes, a fountain will be opened for the House of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to wash sin and impurity away.' (Zechariah 12:10-11, 13:1)

Not only, Zechariah says, will they look upon the One they pierced (who is identified with God Himself, notably), but they will mourn for Him as they did at Meggido, when King Josiah (a major hero of the Jewish people) was killed in battle. And on top of all that, and from all that, the Fountain to cleans from Sin and Impurity will flow out! Divine Mercy--the blood and water from Jesus' Heart, flows out for the forgiveness of sin!

Jesus said precisely this to St. Faustina: "On the cross, the fountain of My mercy was opened wide by the lance for all souls – no one have I excluded!"

The divine Mercy that flows from Jesus' Heart--the Blood and Water--are emblematic of Baptism and the Eucharist, as He explained to St. Faustina, through which we receive the forgiveness of sins and special graces from God! This Divine Mercy is available to all of us, if we choose to appropriate it to ourselves!

What must we do, then?
We must come to the feet of Jesus, where the fountain of Mercy pours out. At the feet of Jesus our lives are transformed, just as was Thomas' in the Sunday Gospel. Jesus did not cast him away for his obstinate unbelief, but showed him His Merciful Heart, and forgave him!

That same forgiveness is available to us for the asking! And so we ask for mercy, in the Sacrament of Confession, which Jesus instituted upon His resurrection:

He said to them again, 'Peace be with you.

'As the Father has sent Me,
so am I sending you.'

After saying this He breathed on them and said:

Receive the Holy Spirit.
If you forgive anyone's sins,
they are forgiven;
if you retain anyone's sins,
they are retained.'

(John 20:21-23)

To St. Faustina, Jesus said:

Souls that make an appeal to My mercy delight Me. To such souls I grant even more than they ask. I cannot punish even the greatest sinner if he makes an appeal to My compassion...

Sometimes, though, Confession is an intimidating thing to go to. We sin, and we're ashamed. We don't want to tell anyone, especially not a priest!

When you approach the confessional, know this, that I Myself am waiting there for you. I am only hidden by the priest, but I Myself act in your soul. Here the misery of the soul meets the God of mercy. When you go to confession, to this fountain of My mercy, the Blood and Water which came forth from My Heart always flows down upon your soul and ennobles it. Every time you go to confession, immerse yourself entirely in My mercy with great trust, so that I may pour the bounty of My grace upon your soul.

Make your confession before Me. The person of the priest is, for Me, only a screen. Never analyze what sort of a priest it is that I am making use of; open your soul in confession as you would to Me, and I will fill it with My light.

Or, we go, in humility, and receive forgiveness and graces to avoid sin in the future, but still, we manage to fall back into our old habits almost immediately! We can despair of God's generous forgiveness--but we must never do that!

No soul that has called upon My mercy has ever been disappointed.

As the prophet Jeremiah wrote:

Surely Yahweh's mercies are not over,
His deeds of faithful love not exhausted;
every morning they are renewed;
great is His faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:22-23)

As long as we are willing to come in repentance to Jesus, He will welcome us and lavish us with His mercy!

And so, our second response to this is one of Trust. When Jesus commissioned the Divine Mercy Image from St. Faustina, He said that it must be inscribed with the signature, "Jesus, I trust in You." He called this image, "a vessel with which they are to keep coming for graces to the fountain of mercy."

The graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is -- trust. The more a soul trusts, the more it will receive.

I let my Sacred Heart be pierced with a lance, thus opening wide the source of mercy for you. Come then with trust to draw graces from this fountain. I never reject a contrite heart.

Sooner would heaven and earth turn into nothingness than would My mercy not embrace a trusting soul.

And so we trust in Jesus, as Scripture says:

Taste and see that Yahweh is good.
How blessed are those who take refuge in Him. (Psalm 34:8)

Have mercy on me, God, have mercy on me,
for in You I trust. (Psalm 57:1)

We have put our trust in the living God and He is the Saviour of the whole human race but particularly of all believers. (1 Timothy 4:10)

Finally, in order to participate in the Divine Mercy that Jesus has for us, He tells us that we ourselves must be merciful:

Blessed are the merciful:
they shall have mercy shown them. (Matthew 5:7)

On this point, Jesus is intensely serious when He speaks to St. Faustina:

I demand from you deeds of mercy which are to arise out of love for Me. You are to show mercy to your neighbours always and everywhere. You must not shrink from this or try to excuse yourself from it ... Even the strongest faith is of no avail without works.

Scripture echoes this explicitly:

'When you stretch out your hands I turn My eyes away.
You may multiply your prayers, I shall not be listening.
Your hands are covered in blood,
wash, make yourselves clean.
Take your wrong-doing out of My sight.
Cease doing evil. Learn to do good,
search for justice, discipline the violent,
be just to the orphan, plead for the widow.

'Come, let Us talk this over,' says Yahweh.
'Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be white as snow;
though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.' (Isaiah 1:15-18)

Again, Jesus says to St. Faustina,

If a soul does not exercise mercy in some way, it will not obtain My mercy on the day of judgment.

Remember, that in Matthew 25:31-46, the sheep and the goats were separated, not by their faith in Jesus, but by the mercy that they showed to others! That is the true test of faith!

Spiritual Works of Mercy
1. Instruct the Ignorant
2. Convert Sinners
3. Advise the Perplexed
4. Comfort the Sorrowful
5. Show Patience to Sinners
6. Forgive Others
7. Pray for the Living and the Dead

Corporal Works of Mercy
1. Feed the Hungry
2. Give Drink to the Thirsty
3. Clothe the Naked
4. Shelter the Homeless
5. Visit the Sick
6. Visit Prisoners
7. Bury the Dead

Let us partake in the Event of God's Mercy! Let us Ask for Mercy in confession; let us Trust in Jesus for His unfailing forgiveness; and let us allow that Mercy, given to us, to flow out of us as it flows out of Jesus' Heart, in Acts of Mercy to others!

Amen.

The Message of the Cross

Yesterday was my second anniversary as a Catholic! This is what it's all about!

Holy Week began on Sunday with Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday, and the reading of the narrative of Christ's Passion (from Mark's Gospel). And so we enter the greatest week of the year, culminating in the greatest Feast of the Year!

This is what our faith is built around: The Cross of Christ. His death for us shows us His great love for us as it redeems us from our sins and forgives us! Through that wonderful Cross, we have been made sons and daughters of God! The Cross is the source of joy!

Let that sink in. Jesus' suffering and death saves us from our sin. So often, I think, we treat Good Friday as a terrible day as we hasten on to the "happy ending" of Easter Sunday. I was reminded of this fact last Sunday when a small boy asked Fr. Watters, "Why do we call Good Friday 'good' if that's when Jesus died?" Fr. Watters wisely responded, "Because it's the best day of the year!"

Truly, it is! If there were no Good Friday, there could be no Easter Sunday. If there were no Good Friday, we all would still be dead in our sins. If there were no Good Friday, we would not know of God's incredible love for us! And yet, Good Friday honours and remembers the most painful, tragic event that has ever occured--and we indeed call it "Good."

That is why St. Paul wrote, "The message of the cross is folly to those who are on the way to ruin, but for those of us who are on the road to salvation it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18). A few verses later, he says, "I was resolved that the only knowledge I would have while I was with you was knowledge of Jesus, and of Him as the crucified Christ." Jesus Himself told us that His glory was in the Cross! In fact, it was the Cross that would draw all people to Him. In John's Gospel, Jesus says, "'Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be driven out. And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to Myself'" (12:31-32). John comments on this saying, "By these words He indicated the kind of death He would die" (v. 33).

For Jesus, the Cross was His Glory, His Power. When St. John had his vision, in Revelation, he sees Jesus as "a Lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed" (Rev. 5:6), and to this Lamb, all the choirs of Heaven bow down and sing

You are worthy...
because You were sacrificed, and with Your blood
You bought people for God
of every race, language, people and nation
and made them a line of kings and priests for God,
to rule the world (Rev. 6:9,10).

In the Crucifixion is joy; in the Crucifixion is victory; in the Crucifixion is redemption. This is why, in every Church, there is a Crucifix--to remind us of the Love and of the Victory in the Cross. "...You have had a clear picture of Jesus Christ crucified, right in front of your eyes..." (Galatians 3:1).

Many years ago in New York, a Gang was passing by St. Patrick's Cathedral. The gang members each dared each other to mock religion and the Church by going into the Cathedral and making a mock confession. One of the guys took the dare, and entered the church. He went into the confessional and began listing off to the priest all the most horrible and shocking sins that he could think of, hoping to embarrass the priest. But behind the screen sat a wise old Cardinal, who prayed to Jesus for wisdom.

When the gang member finished, the Cardinal said to him, "For a confession to be complete and valid, you must do a penance. Here is the penance I am giving you. Over at the back of the Church there is a small chapel, with a life-sized Crucifix inside. I want you to kneel before that Crucifix, look into the face of Jesus, and say to Him ten times, 'Jesus, You died for me, and I don't care.'"

The youth, figuring he'd already gone this far, and might as well go all the way, entered the chapel, knelt before the Crucifix, and began his penance:

"Jesus, You died for me, and I don't care.
Jesus, You died for me, and I don't care.
Jesus, You died for me..."

There, before the Crucifix, as the gang member stared into the face of the One who loved him so much that He suffered and died for him, he could not finish his penance. The grace of Christ came into his life and he had a conversion experience. He got up, went back to the confessional, and made a good confession. Years later, that same man became a priest.

That is the power of the Cross: freedom, peace, and joy. No matter where you've been or what you've done, Christ's hands are stretched out in love for you.

God bless.

Sin and Satan

Well, we had a bigger turn-out than last week. Some new faces, which is always cool! Had a lot of good discussion, too. If you missed it, here's the finer points of the topic, as usual (all 8 pages of it).

Sin
We live today in a permissive society that embraces sin as a virtue. There are the ways of God and there are the ways of the world--two very different ways for humanity to live. The communications media is often filled with the implicit message that "anything goes" and that sin is "no big deal". Sin is a big deal, however, with real and damaging consequences.

Sin is any free, deliberate behaviour on our part that we know offends God and breaks His law. People's sins are rooted in their pride, anger, envy, greed, lust, gluttony and laziness, otherwise known as the "seven deadly sins." Whereas choosing the high road can be difficult, choosing the evils of this world can be very attractive at times.

Sin is such a big deal because God, as our Creator and loving Father, deserves all of our love, respect, and obedience. But He really does not need our obedience--we do. For He loves us more than we love ourselves and knows us better than we know ourselves. So every time we say "no" to Him and His will, we damage others and ourselves. Some sin, called venial or light, weakens our relationship with God. Mortal, or deadly, sin ruptures our relationship with Him, because it is a deliberate act, in full consent of our will, saying we're going to do it our way and not God's--in effect, flipping God off. Turning away from sin and seeking His grace restore this ruptured relationship.

The Effects of Sin
Sin is so damaging is for a number of reasons. First, God is Holy, and sin is completely opposed to His holiness, and therefore sin in our lives cuts us off from Him. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, and that if that sin in our lives is never dealt with, ultimately the result is eternity in Hell, separated from God. The other reason why sin is so damaging, and why God takes such pains to warn us away from it, is because God designed us to be holy as well, to operate a certain way. Think of it like a car. When we drive the car properly, and maintain it regularly, it'll last for a long time without any problems. But if we shift it improperly, or put the wrong kind of fuel in the tank, then the car breaks down. Now, the designer of the car didn't write out an owner's manual telling us how to look after the car properly because he didn't want us to enjoy driving, but precisely because he did want us to enjoy driving the car. It is the same with God. He gave us His law, not to be a killjoy, but to give us true joy.

We see the effects of sin on the hearts of people in the scene where Pilate presents the flogged Jesus to the crowd that we saw last week. We see a vivid contrast between a man who still has a shred of compassion left in his heart set against a seething mob whose appetites for greater spectacle can't be satisfied. Sadly, this is a perceptive portrayal of the human condition: our appetites for sin and vice, once we indulge them, grow ever stronger and can never, ultimately, be satisfied.

The Source of Sin--Satan
It can all be traced back to the fall of Lucifer, the "Angel of Light"--the devil--who rebelled against God and established his kingdom on earth. God thereafter has allowed people the freedom to choose for themselves between His way of truth, selflessness, and light, and the devil's way of lies, selfishness, and darkness. Having rejected God, the devil surely harbours immense hatred for the Creator. We also know from Scripture that he intends to wage spiritual battle against humans, God's special creation. This enmity includes desiring that humans lose their salvation. In the beginning, Satan tempted Adam and Eve into believing that God was holding out on them, and that, if they did things their own way, they could become like God Himself. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve went for it, and because of the sin of our first parents (original sin), we inherit a natural tendency toward sin.

But that is not the whole story. Satan is a master at deceitful advertising. He makes sin appear glamorous and desirable, just as he did in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3). He tries to convince us that God forbids things, not because they are harmful, but because they will make us like Him and He wants to keep us down, subservient, under His feet. So Satan markets sin as liberating while it is the exact opposite--enslaving. Our first parents fell for it, and so do we.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Satan did what he could to try to discourage and prevent Jesus from accomplishing His saving mission. [Clip 1: 0:07:55-0:09:12] As Jesus prays for the strength to complete His mission, Gibson depicts Satan unleashing a serpent, which Jesus crushes under His foot. This is an allusion to the story of the first Garden, where Adam and Eve committed the first sin and cut themselves off from God. But even then, God had put in place His plan for redemption, and He promises that the "seed of the woman" (representing all humanity, and, ultimately Jesus, the "Son of Man" and representative of all humanity) will "bruise the head" of the serpent. Jesus is the "new Adam" (1 Cor 15:22), restoring what the first Adam had lost through sin. So Jesus' crushing of the serpent in this scene is used here as a foreshadowing of Christ' victory over the devil and over sin and death through His suffering, death, and resurrection.

Believing in the devil may seem passé to the supposedly "enlightened", but this is a grave mistake. As C. S. Lewis points out in The Screwtape Letters, the widespread disbelief in Satan's existence is actually an ingenious move on the part of the Evil One. If he can convince men that he does not exist--that he is only as "real" as the boogeyman--then we will not be on guard against him. And if we're not on guard against him, we will almost certainly fall into his traps, because the reality is that he desperately wants your soul.

Far from being some abstract personification of "evil," the devil is an actual spiritual being--a fallen angel (or demon). Though this idea sounds quaint or old-fashioned to modern ears, the Catholic Church has consistently taught that the devil is a real being with formidable will and intellect. Being a pure spirit, he is not subject to the laws of the physical world. His natural intellectual abilities far surpass those of human beings. Both the Bible and the Tradition of the Church teach that the devil (also called Satan--meaning "adversary", or
"Lucifer"--"Light bearer") was the most glorious of the angels, but pride and envy caused him and his followers to rebel against God. As a result of this rebellion, Satan and the other fallen angels (or demons) were cast out from God's presence, a separation that will exist for all eternity.

Given the devil's rejection of God, we can reason that he is consumed with hatred towards God and those made in God's image and likeness--humans. Satan, therefore, is surely relentless in his desire to have you and me lose our souls and be separated eternally from the God who loves us. In the movie, and particularly in the scene in the Garden, his aim is to derail Christ's mission on earth--a mission of love, truth, and salvation.

Jesus refers to the devil many times in Scripture. For example, in Matthew 25:41, He condemns those who refuse to follow His will and love their neighbour with the words, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." In these words, Jesus joins the fate of those who refuse to do His will with that of the devil--namely, hell. The apostle John makes the essential mission of Jesus clear in his first letter: "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil" (1 John 3:8).

[Clip 2: 0:54:25-0:54:55] In the movie, the devil is present at Jesus' scourging. We see Satan holding a grotesque demon baby in his arms and swirling around the action of this sequence, inciting the torturers to maximum violence and brutality. This was the devil's moment, in which he thought he was winning the battle with God. [Clip 3: 1:01:00-1:02:00] He is depicted with the baby demon as a sort of "anti-Madonna-with-Child" image. The devil wants to corrupt anything that is good and beautiful. The devil taunts Jesus, while His Mother stands by helpless, and His Father appears to have abandoned Him. However, despite appearances, none of these things are true, for we know that it was precisely in Jesus' suffering, death, and resurrection that He won the battle.

Even Mary's apparent helplessness accomplishes much in the Divine Plan. Catholics recognise Mary's obedience to God as the antithesis of the devil's rebellion against God. This is a shock to many people, who think that the devil is the opposite of God. But nothing is the opposite of God, for God has no equals. Nor, apart from God, could Mary be the devil's opponent since the devil, as an angel, is vastly more powerful than any human being, naturally speaking. But Mary is "full of grace" as Gabriel called her. She is full of the life of God and is therefore able to confront the devil [Clip 4: 1:14:15-1:14:45], not only during Christ's Passion, but for our sake as well, now that she is glorified in heaven. Mary's "yes" to God stands in direct opposition to Lucifer's rejection of God's will. We'll discuss this in greater detail in the final week of the series.

Satan's Power
As we said, the devil is powerful, but unlike God, he is not all-powerful. There are definite limits to what he can do. For example, he can tempt us to sin, but he cannot cause us to sin. "The devil made me do it!" is not a valid excuse for our sins. There are times, however, when the devil can "possess" a person and have a certain degree of control in their lives. This notion, made popular in horror movies like The Exorcist, is often blown out of proportion. In order for the devil to possess someone, that person needs to invite him in willingly. However, as the Father of Lies, he might use the bare minimum excuse as an invite. This is a major reason that the Church warns so vehemently against things that are from the occult, like Ouija Boards, or Tarot Cards. But even in a case of possession, God is still more powerful, and repeatedly in the Gospels we hear of Jesus driving demons out of people. What's more, He promised that we would have that same authority as His followers.

The extreme case of possession aside, the primary way that the devil attacks us is through tempting us to sin, and leading us away from God. The greatest example of such a person is Judas Iscariot, the guy who betrayed Jesus [Clip 5: 0:10:25-0:10:51]. Scripture actually tells us very little about him besides his name and his role as the apostles' treasurer. After betraying Jesus, he was seized with remorse and committed suicide by hanging himself.

Judas

"Iscariot" means "dagger," which is an interesting name in light of his role in betraying Jesus--"stabbing Him in the back," so to speak. It is also believed that his family was from the town of Kerioth in the south of Judea.

From the parts of the Bible that do talk about Judas, we can find out a little bit more about who he was. He seemed to be very concerned about "earthly" things, such as power and money. He rebuked Mary of Bethany when she anointed Jesus' feet with expensive perfume. Judas griped that that money should have been used for the poor. But St. John tells us that Judas' concern wasn't really for the poor, but that he looked after the money, and used to steal some of the contributions from the money bag (John 12:6).

Besides being motivated by money, Judas seems to have expected Jesus to be a different kind of Messiah, a worldly one who would free Israel from the bondage of its Roman oppressors. Having witnessed Jesus' miracles, it is possible that Judas believed in Jesus' divinity, or at least grasped that He was a prophet. It is sometimes thought that Judas turned Jesus over to the authorities to force His hand--to cause Jesus to exercise His authority and restore the Jewish nation to earthly glory.

[Clip 6: 0:31:45-0:32:35] Judas seems to have felt remorse for his betrayal of Jesus, because, as we see in the film, he throws the 30 pieces of silver he was paid to betray Jesus on the floor of the Temple (see Matt 27:5). He even says to the priests and scribes with whom he collaborated, "I have sinned in betraying innocent blood" (Matt 27:4). This shows that Judas wasn't totally without conscience. Even so, this remorse was not followed by the virtue of hope--a hope that he could be forgiven [Clip 7: 0:15:30-0:16:11].

The Bible reveals that after he cast the 30 pieces of silver on the Temple floor he went out and hung himself (Matt 27:5). Mel Gibson portrays him as being in the throes of demonic torments that plague him and drive him farther from God.

[Clip 8: 0:32:35-0:33:48; Clip 9: 0:35:40-0:37:50]. He could have become a great saint had he recovered from his sin as Peter did. Instead, he despaired of God's mercy and chose death.


"Good Thief" vs. "Bad Thief"

There are two more people to consider when it comes to the topic of sin. The two people who were crucified with Jesus illustrate both the effects of sin, and also the possibility of forgiveness and reconciliation. The "Bad Thief", whom Tradition has named Gesmas, lets his sinful life make him bitter. His sin has taken so much control of him, that he is blinded to the truth that is Jesus. He mocks Christ just as much as anyone else. Unfortunately, Gesmas' fate is all too common. Sin takes us down a road that gets farther and farther from God. While it is true that He can forgive any sin as long as we're willing to let Him, the very act of sinning, and living a sinful lifestyle, hardens our heart to His love and forgiveness. In contrast, the "Good Thief," Dismas, realises the truth, and even though he was a terrible criminal himself, his heart is still soft towards the things of God, and that is all God needs to bestow His love and forgiveness. Jesus' love and forgiveness of His torturers and murderers touches the thief's heart, and he humbly asks Christ to forgive him [Clip 10: 1:44:20-1:44:50; Clip 11: 1:45:00-1:46:15]. The "Bad Thief" scorns this humble act as a futile gesture of a desperate fool, and subsequently has his eyes gouged out by a crow, an event in the movie which echoes historical facts (carnivorous birds would often peck at crucified victims' eyes to make sure they were dead before trying to eat them) but also symbolically demonstrates his spiritual blindness.

The fate of the "bad thief" is contrasts with that of the "good thief," who in the Bible professes belief in Christ at the eleventh hour and is assured by Jesus a share in His Kingdom. The forgiveness of Dismas by Jesus gives all Christians hope in the saving power of faith. Even at the hour of death it is possible to ask for and receive forgiveness of one's sins by trusting in Jesus!

The forgiveness that Jesus won on the cross, as we discussed in detail last week, is available to everyone. That is why Jesus cried out when He was being crucified, "Father, forgive them!" [Clip 12: 1:38:00-1:38:20] Jesus' desire to forgive us and wipe out sin extends even to the very people responsible for His death! And we know we can be forgiven, because the Devil was defeated on the cross [Clip 13: 1:55:10-1:55:25]! The Bible says, "Even when you were dead in transgressions, He brought you life along with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions; obliterating the bond against us, with its legal claims, which was opposed to us, he also removed it from our midst, nailing it to the cross; despoiling the principalities and the powers, He made a public spectacle of them, leading them away in triumph by it" (Colossians 2:13-15).

How Do We Gain Forgiveness?
During the discussion yesterday, the question was asked how we know we are forgiven. In my last blog, we discussed baptism as the means that God provided for us to enter into His Covenant--His family--and to have our sins washed away. That's the first step any of us takes, and many of us take it as babies (not me, though. I was 16).

But what about the inevitable times afterwards that we will be tempted and buy into it? How are we forgiven then? The Bible tells us that if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). In most circumstances, we can just apologise to God with a sincere heart. These are the cases of venial sin, as we mentioned up above. We have means to go straight to God because our sins are of such a nature that, while they harm our relationship with God, they do not sever it completely. This is because a venial sin isn't done with the desire to sin, to flip God off, as it were, but was done in the heat of some passion and not with our full, reasoned consent. However, continuing to surrender to our passions in venial sin will continue to damage the relationship to such a point that it becomes mortal, or deadly, to our relationship with God.

Mortal sin is the kind of sin we do that is fully a result of our reasoned choice and understanding. We know it is wrong, and we still very much want to do it, consequences be damned--or rather, the consequences would be damnation. This sort of sin severs our relationship completely with God, in such a way that if it is never dealt with, we are in effect no longer Christian. As such, our forgiveness requires a more drastic approach in order for us to reenter the community. That is why Jesus provided us with the Sacrament of Reconciliation (or Confession or Penance). It is in this sacrament that we have the means to restore ourselves to the Covenant which we violated by our sin.

Jesus instituted this sacrament after His Resurrection, when He told His 12 Apostles, "'Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.' And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained'" (John 20:21-23). St. James wrote in a letter about this sacrament and one other, the Anointing of the Sick. Regarding Confession, he writes, "He should summon the presbyters [of which "priest" is an English contraction] and they should pray over him....If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:14-16). James ties the two sacraments together in his letter, but Sacred Tradition separates the two into distinct, but often overlapping, sacraments.

In the sacrament of Reconciliation, we can know we are forgiven because we know by faith that this is the means that Jesus set up for us. Therefore, when we hear the words of absolution by the priest, they can minister to our heart in a way that might not have been the case up to that point. It's one thing to know something with our heads (God loves us and forgives us) or to read it in a book, even the Bible. But in sin, the devil (that jerk) tries to keep us from believing that forgiveness is possible, just like he drove Judas to despair and suicide. So when we, in the throes of guilt, try to reach God on our own, heaven can feel very far away. The beauty, then, of confessing our sins to a priest, gives us the opportunity to hear the words as though from Christ Himself, as the priest stands in His stead.

Furthermore, if you have a good priest, he can help you to find the root of your sin, so that you can more ably dig it out. Thus, Confession can be a mini counselling session. The third thing that Confession does is give us the first step in Repentance, which is turning 180 degrees from sin and going back to God. The Penance that the priest assigns is designed to counter the sinful act and show us the first step back to living the holy life. But by far the most important thing that the Sacrament of Reconciliation does is to humble us. It's a very easy thing to keep our sin between us and God. No one else has to know. But in Confession, we must openly admit our sins to a priest, and this is very difficult. But it is important, because the very act of Confession attacks the deadliest of the Seven deadly sins--the very sin that caused Satan's downfall--Pride.

Through the Cross, Jesus makes forgiveness available to all. He gave His Church the means of Grace and Forgiveness so that we may be members of His Covenant Family. So then, as members of His Family, where do we go from here? We'll discuss that next week as we look at some of the characters in The Passion of the Christ who had a life-changing encounter with Jesus, and see that our lives should tell a similar story of radical change!

God bless.