69. Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Meditations no. 115 (unofficial computer-aided translation)

Sin is an offence against God’s fatherly love.

Sons have I reared and brought up but they have rebelled against me, says the Lord, through the prophet Isaiah. The purpose of Lent is to help us commemorate fruitfully the mysteries of the Death and Resurrection of our Lord, who came down to earth to free us from sin. Because those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

At the root of every sin there lurks a proud, rebellious attitude, which is an echo of the pleasure our first parents took in the enemy’s suggestion: You will be like God. Sin is a rebellion which takes many forms: Let us burst their bonds asunder and cast their cords from us. Sin is directed against God. It refuses to recognize his sovereign authority. It denies him his rightful due, and turns a deaf ear to the invitations which come from his goodness. It is an offence against God’s fatherly love, against that God who in order to redeem us, gave his only Son, to be the expiation for our sins.

Mortal sin by its very nature calls for a repetition of the Lord’s Passion, and condemns Christ to death anew. It is hard to read in the Holy Gospels that question of Pilate: “Whom do you wish that I release to you, Barabbas or Jesus, who is called Christ?” But it is even more painful to hear the answer: “Barabbas!”

And it is more terrible still when I realize that very often - when I wandered away - I, too, have said “Barabbas!” and I’ve added: “Christ?… crucifige eum, crucify him!”

On realizing how many sins are committed against God, it is up to us to keep our souls and our minds wide awake. We have to be realistic, without being defeatist. Only a person with a callous conscience, made insensitive by routine, or dulled by a frivolous attitude, can allow himself to think that evil - offence against God and harm, at times irreparable harm, to souls - does not exist in the world he sees.

Let us think about our sins and humbly ask God to give us genuine sorrow for them. Let us repeat with our whole heart the words which the liturgy now places on our lips: Father, look upon our weakness and reach out to help us with your loving power.

The malice of venial sin.

Do not forget, my son, that for you there is but one evil on earth: sin. You must fear it and avoid it with the grace of God.

The greatest misfortune for anyone is mortal sin, a grave offence against God which incurs the loss of sanctifying grace, of all virtues, gifts and past merits, and of our heavenly inheritance. But after mortal sin, the second greatest danger and misfortune is venial sin. Although it does not cause the loss of God’s friendship, it does deprive the soul of many actual graces. It lessens the fervour of charity. It is an obstacle to the practice of virtue, and it prepares a person for mortal sin. What little love for God you have, our Father writes, when you give in without a fight because it’s not a grave sin!

To manifest his power in our weakness, God allows us to be harassed by the devil and by temptations. A Christian’s struggle must be unceasing, for interior life consists in beginning and beginning again. This prevents us from proudly thinking that we are perfect already. It is inevitable that we should meet difficulties on our way. If we did not come up against obstacles, we would not be creatures of flesh and blood. We will always have passions which pull us downwards; we will always have to defend ourselves against these more or less self-defeating urges.

We should not be surprised to find, in our body and soul, the sting of pride, sensuality, envy, laziness and the desire to dominate others.

Except by a special grace, such as that which our Lady received, no one can avoid all venial sins throughout life. It is impossible while we journey in this world not to yield sometimes to curiosity, at other times to pleasure, or to more vanity than is proper, even if only for a short while, “for in many things we all offend.” However, as St Bernard points out, let no one underestimate these faults or fail to give them importance. For it is impossible to go to heaven with them, and they cannot be cleansed except in Christ and by Christ. Let no one, I repeat, sleep in false security, allowing his heart to invent deceiving words to excuse his sins. For if the Lord does not cleanse us, we will have no part in him. And yet neither should we be anxious over these sins. He will easily pardon them and will do so gladly if we ourselves acknowledge them.

In this certainty, let us renew our resolution to fight resolutely against venial sins. Venial sins do great harm to the soul. That is why our Lord says in the “Canticle of Canticles”, capite nobis vulpes parvulas, quae demoliuntur vineas, catch the little foxes which destroy the vine.

We cannot have interior life unless we fight vigorously against venial sins.

We must convince ourselves that the worst enemy of a rock is not a pickaxe or any other such implement, no matter how sharp it is. No, its worst enemy is the constant flow of water which, drop by drop, enters the crevices until it ruins the rock’s structure. The greatest danger for a Christian is to underestimate the importance of fighting skirmishes. The refusal to fight the little battles can, little by little, leave him soft, weak and indifferent, insensitive to the accents of God’s voice.

Regarding venial sins, St Bernard adds, God works in such a way that he does not take them completely away, but through them he teaches us that if we cannot avoid even the smallest defects, then, by ourselves, we will surely fail to conquer major defects. In this way we will be fearing and solicitous not to lose his grace, realizing that we need it in so many ways.

Attempts and failures. They are a sure sign that we need more grace and more filial fear. We need to seek the support of almighty God, so that he may prevent us from offending him again. Answer me, Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.

Along with prayer, however, we must also be vigilant. We should be on guard so that our charity does not grow cold. Without this constant struggle against venial sin, there can be no true interior life. To begin or sustain this conflict a Christian should not wait for external signs or nice inner feelings. Interior life does not consist in feeling, but in divine grace, willingness and love.

Let us ask ourselves now, in the Lord’s presence, whether in our examination we seek the causes of those semi-deliberate sins which we commit almost by surprise, and which dull the lustre of our dedication. Do we give them the importance that they really have? Do we use effective means to avoid them? Are we really sorry when we keep falling into them in spite of everything? How sad you make me feel when you are not sorry for your venial sins! For, until you are, you cannot begin to have true interior life.

Among all his children, God loves us with special affection. Therefore our infidelities and failure to struggle show more ingratitude and lack of love. We cannot take it easy. Our Lord wants us to fight more, on a broader front, more intensely each day. We have an obligation to outdo ourselves, for in this competition the only goal is to arrive at the glory of heaven. And if we did not reach heaven, the whole thing would have been useless.

Let us ask our Lord for the sensitivity we need so as to realize the malice of venial sin, to consider it an enemy of our interior life, and to try to avoid it with the grace of God.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, and obtain for us a holy fear, as the fruit of a deep, sincere love.