The Forgiveness of Sins

God forgives.

The statement in and of itself is a prime identification tag of the Divine throughout history and across religions. In the Christian, and specifically, the Catholic tradition, this is a major tenet that has been a part of the creedal confession since the early days of the Faith.

But why? Why would God engage in the action of forgiveness?

I take the first and base foundation of this whole thing as asserting that God is, above all, God. As omnipotent, the Divine can be assumed to do anything. Humanity, then, can propose a reasonable question: why can’t God eliminate sin, the resulting ramifications and all negative repercussions by a simple fiat of Divine authority?

The answer is simple: God can in fact do that. One motion of the will and the entire issue vanishes. And just as emphatically stated, God has not done that. There has been no annihilation of the reality of sin as well as our need of forgiveness. It remains a dynamic reality as does sin and its effects on the human race as well as creation itself.

So, once again, why the forgiveness of sins?

The obvious answer is to save us from damnation which, by revelation, sin ultimately leads toward. From our earliest days, this is what we were taught and have (rightly) believed. The desires of fallen human nature for that which is not of God also tend to exclude and degrade our desire for the Divine. Having squelched that desire in favor of others, the soul finds itself (at the end) with desires unmatched and aimed at nothing for all eternity. Forgiveness is a cleansing of those mis-oriented desires as well as the consequences of them.

But is that it or is there something more?

Forgiveness is not simply or only a matter of a termination of culpability. Its lower level, while legalistic in its declaration of judgment, is just that – its primary level. The catechesis of the Church has always placed this in its proper perspective. Baptism (and its effectual remission of sins) is a requirement of the first order. Sacramental Confession is required before Holy Communion. Even the Mass itself is opened with a repentance-absolution rite for the purification of the worshippers. Based on the Biblical and experiential ordering of worship, any approach to the Divine must be preceded by an act of repentance-absolution else one implicitly incurs a further sin of pride.

So we can say that forgiveness ‘clears the path to God.’ And we would be right to say this. This primary movement of the soul to God is not optional and should be integrated to the point of reflex. All of this is obvious and none of it new. But, as the lives of saints have shone, it cannot stop there. The Universal Call to Holiness is not merely living without incurred blame. The Vocation to Sanctity is far more than just remaining ‘in the state of Grace.’

I propose that the Forgiveness of Sin has less to do (at that more advanced stage) with our sin than it does with God’s forgiveness. In other words, our focus is not on our sins but God’s mercy.

This is definitely a shift. To consider, in our earliest stages, the awful wrong we have done is proper. Seeking absolution is a virtue. But after that necessary progression, the time should come when the soul is paying more attention to what God has done instead of what we have done wrong.

Gratitude for absolution is a reason for worship – and a good one. But let me offer a parallel here. God is pleased with our gratitude and, in justice, we owe it. But like a friend or family member whose has done good by us, the conversation has to go beyond this rightful acknowledgment. At a certain point, should our communication with each other remain only on the level of gratitude, the relationship would retard and eventually be rendered meaningless. Gratitude needs to be expressed and then it is formulated into the nature of the relationship itself. This is not about presumption but about growing. The reflex of gratitude becomes a way of life rather than an occasion only when needed. Always willing to be expressed, it moves from isolation into personality. It can be assumed as well as visible because it is integrated.

Forgiveness - offered, received and accepted - is an aspect of our relationship with God that becomes a part of who we are. It starts to be more than a one-time or as-needed experience. It is confidently assumed as a part of the Relationship. It claims the grace and names the sin. It is always wonderful but not always special. It is a Divine action even as we see it from the human perspective.

So if it becomes, as we mature, more of the Divine than the human, we have to ask why it still plays such a role in our spirituality?

I propose that the primary role forgiveness has in our religious pathway is also the primary locus of our experience of God Himself. Yes, we begin to learn the ability to confess and grow in the human character virtue of responsibility. Even as we do, we experience – directly and personally – the impact of this Divine Assurance. We take so much for granted, even our own creation, but this is different. It is clear that in the experience of Absolution, there is a palpable presence of an Agent beyond ourselves. Regardless of the subjective nature of the occasion (i.e., the individual sins of the confess-ee), the next step is distinct from that subject. The reconciling role of the priest in the Sacrament witnesses to the objective action of absolution. As acting in persona Christi, the priest concretely testifies to the very real presence of God as the Agent.

And this Sacrament conveys precisely that – a real presence of the Divine. And such a presence cannot be ignored.

The forgiveness of sins, then, is truly about the manifestation of God far more than the recounting of our evil acts. It is this Presence which annihilates those evil deeds and not our confessing of them. The absolution has to be about the Divine above all and our fallen condition has to be an invitation to that presence. Please note than our sins do not require God to be forgiving. They do not ‘cause’ mercy or make Him do anything. In the sovereign Divine freedom, the presence of sin in the human subject has become an opportunity of holiness.

In other words, God’s forgiveness is a gateway to heaven more than redirect from the path to hell. It becomes a matter of ‘saved to’ more than ‘saved from.’ In the context of the Relationship, the key issue is mercy, not sin. Sins are forgiven in order that we may know the presence of God and not just the absence of guilt. We assume His mercy which keeps us from presumption of His pardon.

Okay then, we ask why. Why not just will this union while taking sin off the table?

Obviously, we are created in the image of God and so have free will. And in reflecting that same likeness, we are more than well aware of that higher justice which demands satisfaction. We do not live in a utopia of such a limiting perfection but live in the demanding world of real relationship and choice. Without the hindrance of silly idealism or irrational dualism, we are faced with the challenge of a forgiving God and the burden of human activity that cries out for it. And in the meeting of these two we find that Mystery of Mercy.

Does a sad and often silly humanity dare to consider this? Scarred with sin and troubled by guilt, could the whole forgiveness of God contain such a thing? The Cross says ‘yes’ while it bestows its pardon. Does the soul, a veteran of sin and mercy, find in that tedium and repetition, a vision of God Himself? Mercy says that we will – 70 times 7. The God who knows more than all knows how wounded and weak our sins have left us. The cumulative witness of our pride and the damaging ruts of our bad habits scream their desperation and prevent us from hearing the voice of God. These failures cannot be’ forgiven and forgotten’ since they will only rattle again. Their jolts and jags will not permit us to ignore them. Their size and depths are too much.

Into this awful landscape the Mercy of God brings paradise itself. Amid the ruins, a shining Temple is built. And all the fond and pious images are used and illustrated in the soul of one who knows this mercy. But still there is more. It is not about what beauty God brings to the restored soul because it is not about us at all. Forgiveness is about God and God alone.

Throughout the Bible, and in particular the Hebrew Scriptures, the Presence of God is considered an awesome thing. The holiness of God was so overpowering that should a human see it, they would die. Even touching the Ark of the Covenant or seeing an angel face-to-face caused a literal ‘holy terror.’ But it was not always so. Adam walked with God in the Garden until things went wrong. The sharp contrast of God’s holiness and humanity’s sin was very clear. In Christ, that same holiness was made accessible in the Incarnation. And by Grace, that union continues to affect the believer. That tremendous Presence is found now, as then, in the visitation of forgiveness.

I choose the word ‘visitation’ because it communicates a tangible, conscious, intended, and delineated dialogue. The Visitor wills to visit. The offer is accepted. The presence of the Divine and the human are brought into an actual encounter. And the forgiveness conveyed is done so by the Real Presence of God. This is the intention of forgiveness; the result is mercy.

Mercy, from the Hebrew hesed, is a loving pardon and a heartfelt concern of God for His creatures. We have reduced mercy to the former and have presumed the latter. We can stop our experience of mercy at the absolution in our legalistic minds. Christian maturity is entering into mercy. The works (spiritual and corporal) of mercy found in Mat 25 are incorporated as a life rather than a list of tasks. Prayer touches that relationship in such a powerful way that mercy thinks it silly to pester God with minor needs He already knows. It states forgiveness as a given and as something received. It speaks a gratitude it knows so well. The end result of forgiveness has specifically nothing to do with sin because, as far as any Divine reality is concerned, they no longer exist. The One who forgives has done so and that same Person remains.

Forgiveness of sin is who we are because it is a gateway into the Divine presence. In a sacramental grace, the Real Presence of the Merciful God is a part of who we are. Obliterated in the fire of the Redemption, sin is removed by absolution and in it place is the Redeemer. God has not willed sin away or taken the role of justice out of the universe. Respecting the pinnacle of His creation, He sees the fallen will of Adam’s children and understands how we prevent His union with us. Forgiveness is the vehicle of the New Creation, founded in the paschal mystery. Fallen human nature continually finds itself in refuse of ill-will and concrete evil. Producing more and more in the attempt to extricate itself, humanity remains desperate and frustrated. Humanity knows it needs for restoration but seems to try and dictate its own healing.

Mercy is the only possible answer because it has so little to do with us. It builds upon grace and nature by the Presence of God alone. Described as “God’s greatest attribute”, Mercy is the Sacrament of God’s Presence to the soul. And in that awesome reality, this singular prominence obscures all else. Mercy is to the soul what the Church is to the world. It is the witness of God’s handiwork to the individual as the Body pf Christ continues the universal mission of salvation. In fact, mercy is the goal of the Church’s mission.

A last note here on the progression of our understanding mercy needs to offer a caveat. We tend to assume that one truth supplants another. We have all experienced correction and guidance which does this. Mercy is not about that. To say that goal of mercy is something akin to the unitive stage does not exclude the experience of absolution at the primal stage of guilt-removal. There is no lesser or greater here; mercy forbids it.

A Dialogue In Prayer

And so I said, ‘Lord have mercy’ on me; heal my soul for I have sinned against you.

Yes, you have and, yes, I do. I have promised it and you have asked it. You believe it and I give it. You are forgiven.

Now we sit here wrapped in the silence that once greeted the moment of creation. Stunned, you are emptied of what once you had. You learned to live with it and so let it define you. You looked at the grass and scanned the heavens through the glaze of your own faults. But that film has been scraped away and your eyes see as never before.

That will change so long as you live. That vision will be dimmed by what you do. Your fallen nature is prone to this and your heart longs for something else. But I do not. I desire something you may not always perceive. My mercy is not a mechanism to scrub away the accumulation of life. I offer this mercy because I came that you may have life to the full. Because you cannot see through the residue, you panic in repentance. You run to me when the monsters of your little world are coming to get you. And you, my child, are welcomed to My embrace.

But little one, in your fear and trembling, I softly whisper that all shall be well. I hold you from your mistakes and shield you with My back. And you, like a toddler, scamper away when things are safe. But soon, you return for that comfort again. And, once again, you are so welcomed.

But as you grow, can you find a desire for something else? Can you, in your helpless fear, not think for a moment that in this comfort there is more? Can you not fathom that as much as you desire to be okay with Me that I desire to be with you? Yes, I forgive you and allow you to go on. I always will. But my mercy is for so much more.

Absolvo. I say this with My own lips. I extend with My own hand the forgiveness you require. You are grateful and I am honored by that. But like Mary that morning in the garden, can you see through your tears of contrition and gratitude? Can you see Me? Have your prayers for pardon ceased their echo and can you now hear Me call your name? Can you forget your embarrassment like Peter did and finally look at Me?

I forgive you because I love you. I don’t just forgive you because you wronged Me. I want you to receive My mercy because I want you to take Me in. I know how weighty your wrongs seem to you. My heart is more heavy with a desire to hold you to Myself. My forgiveness is also My plea to you. As you beg My mercy, My mercy begs for you. I took your sins so I could have you.

Oh good and gracious God, couldn’t You just will it to happen? I know this but I am deceived by Your allowance! My will is so far from Your words!

Little one, be calm! I did not make you like a rock or a tree. You may be subject to the same winds and rain, but I gave you so much more. I made you in My image because nothing else is worthy of love. Your freedom is our family resemblance. So, no, dear one, I would never shun that glorious image and the pinnacle of my handiwork.

Little one, I know you think I am being obscure, even deceptive. Your mind knows My desire but you run away. Your fallen will says that my mercy is a Trojan horse which contains the force set to destroy you. You see My allowance and mistake it for something else. You have proof of My love but seem to doubt its possibility. You earnestly argue with Me even though you know the answer.

Oh child, you get so worked up! You get so tired from all this! You need to rest and enjoy it. I am not some lion trying shock you into submission. I forgive you so you can have Me. I want you to look past your sins because I have overlooked them. I gently ask you to stop talking about what is no longer there. They are gone but I am here. What could ever matter to you more?