Jesus
received baptism, a baptism of repentance,
as our representative. He redeemed us
by giving the Father the loving obedience we had denied him. In the desert, he withstood temptations to
which Adam and Israel had succumbed.
Jesus lived his identity as Son even when it meant being scourged,
crowned with thorns, nailed to a tree, and pierced with a spear. By saying “yes,” and enduring it all in obedience
to God’s will, Jesus redeemed the “no” of our sins. Let me be absolutely clear: the eternal
punishment of sin, the separation from God that we call hell, was atoned for –
totally, completely, even superabundantly – by the sacrifice of
Jesus. Having said that we Catholics
also believe that, joined to Jesus, we are called to offer satisfaction,
or reparation, both for our individual sins as well as other members of
the Mystical Body. I’ll do my best to
explain why this is.
From time to time you hear of a “jail house conversion.” Someone was baptized in infancy but received
no real formation in the Faith, and went from one bad decision in life to another. He finally murdered someone and was
jailed. While in jail he experiences a
profound conversion. He understands that
he has done something incredibly evil and vows to live a new life. The visiting priest hears his confession and
gives him absolution. The convict’s sins
are really and truly forgiven. Jesus’
sacrificial death (pure love) atoned for the act of murder (hate) and reconciles
the prisoner’s soul to God, saving him from hell. Since the prisoner has been forgiven in this way,
shouldn’t he be released? Something
tells me I’m not the only one out there saying “no.”
We understand that even though the eternal
punishment of his sins have been atoned for by Jesus’ death and that heaven now
stands open to the man, there is still an earthly penalty to be paid here in
time and space. It’s called the temporal
punishment of sin; and it’s not just the state requiring this of the man, but God.
Analogously, this is why the Church
insists that even though we’ve been absolved of our sins in the Sacrament of
Reconciliation, we need to perform an act of penance. Penance is a concrete act meant both to
repair, or when that is impossible, to make amends for, the harm we have done as
well as to get us walking in the right direction again. (You no doubt remember how Peter, who denied
the Lord three times; was asked by the Risen Jesus to reaffirm his love three
times.)
Note, the Church says this to
baptized Christians, members of Christ’s Mystical Body. A state board of corrections will not
recognize it, but the Church understands that Baptism wipes away eternal
punishment, as well as all temporal punishment earned prior to Baptism. The baptized soul has
been regenerated by grace and made a child of God. As a “newborn” it is completely free of all
punishment!
But when a Christian sins after
Baptism, when she act out of selfishness instead of love, then her loving
Father disciplines her. “Every one to whom much is given, of him will much be
required” (Luke 12:48). Don’t’ be
discouraged by this. “My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
or lose heart when you are punished by him . . . God is treating you as
children; for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?”
(Heb.12:5,7). And you’re not going
through this discipline by yourself – you’re filled with the strength of Christ
(Phil. 4:13). Jesus’ love of the Father
is so superabundant that it erupts into acts of love in our own lives, acts
that make satisfaction for our sins. “I
am the vine, you are the branches. Those
who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit” (John 15:5). The branches produce fruit because of the sap
they receive from the vine, and we produce acts of love because of the Holy
Spirit we receive from Jesus.
We also can’t forget that the
Christian life isn’t just “me and Jesus.”
He isn’t at work just in us, but in the whole communion of saints! In the Body of Christ, “if one member
suffers, all suffer together with it” (1 Cor.12:26). That is why St. Paul went on to say, “I am
now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing
what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the
church” (Colossians 1:24). United to Jesus and empowered by his grace, Paul
made reparation for the sins – the failures to love – of other members of the
Body.
We can consciously choose to enter
into this great act of making reparation.
We intentionally ask Jesus to fill us with strength and allow us to
express his love for the Father, in reparation both for our failings and those
of his whole Body. We can perform the
spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Perhaps we tighten our belts, literally through
fasting or figuratively by almsgiving.[1] Like St. Paul we embrace and offer up the
frustrations and sufferings God allows to come our way. Reparation can be performing a kind act,
additional Mass attendance during the week, or asking the Lord to forgive
another person’s sins.[2] Any element of the
Divine Mercy is an incredible prayer of reparation! All of this spring from the same love, the same
Holy Spirit, that Jesus poured forth on the Cross.
Almost everyone has heard the story
of Fatima, how the Blessed Mother appeared to three shepherd children in
Portugal during World War I. Europe was
experiencing the natural result, or the “temporal punishment,” of abandoning
its love of God and neighbor. Mary came
to request a return to the Gospel and reparation for sin through the praying of
the Rosary and acts of penance. What
many are unaware of was how the children were prepared for Mary’s visitation,
over a year before, through the appearance of an angel and the prayer he taught
them. Prostrating themselves with their foreheads to the ground, he
instructed them to pray three times, “My God, I believe, I adore, I hope, and I
love you! I ask pardon of you for those
who do not believe, not adore, do not hope, and do not love you.”
Pope Pius XI, who became pope
shortly after the events at Fatima, made a profound connection between our
prayers and acts of reparation and Jesus’ Passion. In his encyclical On Reparation to the Sacred Heart, he speculated that the angel who
“strengthened” Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane did so by crossing time and
space to bring him our acts of reparation!
