Why be concerned with sin?

The present theological project I am writing about is called ‘Does sin matter?’  It is one of a couple of projects that are the result of pastoral experience.

The practice of the Sacrament of Penance has changed very significantly in the last half century or so.  Some of us would remember the long lines of people waiting to go to confession back in the 1950’s.  And the queues were even longer leading up to Easter and Christmas.  No one has to wait very long these days!  Such a change needs discernment.  And like so many other things, going backwards is neither good nor is it an historical possibility.  We need to look to the future.

Several things have changed in the last six or seven decades.  One of the important things is that we have come to listen more accurately to the Scriptures and especially to the gospels in which a very different idea of sin emerges from that taken for granted during the first two thirds of the twentieth century.

Sin was taken too seriously and not seriously enough.  We have a need to shift our understanding of sin in the light of the Scriptures and of the long-term Catholic tradition.  As an instance of such change, the Gospel of St John speaks of ‘the sin of the world’.  And notice that we use that phrase four times at every Mass.  We pray three times “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, have mercy on us” and the priest invites Communion with similar words: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.

In the new testament the phrase is the ‘sin of the world’ not the ‘sins of the world’.  It is in the singular not the plural.  This term refers not just to the accumulation of all the sins of all individuals but rather refers to a situation in which our world finds itself.  It refers to a sort of contagion that has its influence on us.  It is something we can absorb.  We can almost unknowingly at times be infected with it.  We can go along with it in our individual actions or we can refuse its influence.

So sin is not just about an individual’s words, deeds or omissions but also about a blindness, a lethargy, a social pressure that we can find around us and in us.  Sin is indeed a serious matter but biblical perspectives, theological reflection and pastoral experience have led us to see the wider reaches of human sinfulness and leads us to see our own particular sinfulness in that wider context.  There are many questions to be worked on in this area as I hope these few words make clear.

It also means that we need a wider range of rituals to celebrate God’s forgiveness and our forgiven sinfulness.

 

By Fr Frank O’Loughlin

 

Sacramental Life

Comments

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Ray King

Fr Frank, I have enjoyed your weekly writings about the lives of the saints. And these thoughts on the meaning of sin are very enlightening. I often think of sin as being like buying a new car (or any other piece of equipment). You get an instruction manual telling you how to best care for your equipment. Ignore these instructions and the car does not run well. Sinning, ignoring life's instructions, means one's or the community's life does not go well. Thank you, Fr Frank.

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Tony Santospirito

I like Fr Frank's description of "the sin of the world as "a blindness, a lethargy, a social pressure that we can find around us and in us". It made sense of the phrase to me. It speaks to me of a sort of malaise humanity finds itself in with the ongoing violence, poverty and suffering we experience today

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