A few years back I wrote a post on our need to make "reparation" or "atonement" for the sins we commit after baptism. I shared that, although Christ's sacrifice makes atonement for the eternal debt of our sins, God our Father expects his adopted children to make amends for the temporal debt of their sins, which includes the damage we do to others as well as to our own souls. We do so, however, not under our own power, but by Christ's grace. Today, on the Feast of the Holy Family, our first reading contained some powerful statements on this subject. I'll quote from the NASB translation:
Whoever honors his father atones for sins.
and preserves himself from them....
Even if [your father's] mind fail, be considerate of him;
revile him not all the days of his life;
kindness to a father will not be forgotten,
firmly planted against the debt of your sins
— a house raised in justice to you.
(Sirach 3:3, 12-15)
It makes perfect sense. Every sin is a rejection of God's Fatherhood over us. We reject His loving, all-wise will to do our own thing. It's sin. This disfigures our soul, which is supposed to be taking on the image of His only begotten, Jesus. When we honor our parents, the earthly image of God put here by Him to guide us, we are in effect honoring God's Fatherhood over us and thus taking steps to undo the effects of our disobedience in our souls. In this way, we not only repair, or "atone," for sins; but we also "preserve" ourselves, take steps to protect ourselves, from falling into sin in the future. This honor we show to our parents is the triumph of Christ's grace within us, a manifestation of His obedience to Mary and Joseph out of obedience to the will of the Father! By Christ's power within us, we are overcoming sin and taking on the image of the Master.
The author of Sirach knew that the Lord sometimes calls us to atone for sin in this way while working against strong resistance. It can be somewhat easy to honor our parents in the normal circumstances of life, but we really have to overcome ourselves when we are called to care for a parent who fights our efforts, such as one suffering from dementia. This is when we really overcome the disfigurement sin has wrought in our souls via the grace-filled exertion it takes to remain firmly patient and kind in serving a parent. It cannot be done without Christ's grace, without Him loving our aging parents through us. We are called to become images of His own sacrificial love. Spiritually-speaking, this is about as lofty as it gets. Humanly-speaking, however, it feels horrible. It is an act of the will, made in union with Christ, the Ever-Faithful Son. [Believe me, I'm speaking to myself in this post.] The positive effects upon our souls are very real though — that is God's promise.
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Addendum: If your Old Testament is missing the Book of Sirach, then this post is for you.
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich." ~2 Cor. 8:9
A few days ago, while praying the Rosary, I became completely dumbstruck at Jesus's total and complete lack of selfishness. There is nothing - and I mean, nothing - that our Lord holds back for Himself. I remember the twinge of jealousy I felt as a child when my mom turned her attention from me to a friend; and yet, Jesus freely entrusts His Mother to each member of His Church (John 19:26-27; Rev. 12:17). Even more momentous, the only begotten Son of the Father invites us into the intimacy of the Divine Family: "No one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him" (Matt. 11:27); "Go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father" (John 20:17). Our Lord won't even keep His own Flesh and Blood for Himself, but gives them to us as supernatural food and drink!
Bask in the Lord Jesus's generosity. Be overwhelmed by His love for you.
Then turn to this truth that was at the center of Pope St. John Paul II's teaching: "Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for his own sake, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of self" (Gaudium et Spes, No. 24). Jesus invites us to love as He loves. That is our call. That is the goal of our lives - to fully image the Son. No, to be empowered by the Son to bravely pour ourselves out, holding nothing in reserve. To say that is difficult is an understatement; constantly calling out for grace and cooperating with it is painful...but in it one finds the beauty of the Crucified. This is why we Catholics never tire of looking at the lives of God's saints - we see the victory of Christ's unselfish love in the lives of people just like ourselves, and it inspires us to let go of our security blankets and give ourselves away just a little bit more.
God can do it in us. He did it in the life of the young mother, Chiara Petrillo; and just this morning I discovered that He had done it in the life of another young mother right here in my own city of St. Louis. I invite you to read her story and keep her family in your prayers - pray both for their comforting and for God's continual grace that they be able to imitate her, as she imitated Christ (1 Cor. 11:1).
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." ~John 15:12
