to people of good will: 30th week tuesday 2012 II

Last week in reflecting on the confiteor or on the prayer “I confess,” specifically on reflecting on the words “through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault, I emphasized personal responsibility - sin is an act of choice and it is done with free consent.  In moral theology, the commission of mortal sin has three requirements - the act is grievous, there is full knowledge meaning you know that doing this is a sin, and lastly there is free consent, knowing that it is a grievous sin still one chose to do it.

But there is one other thing I would like to emphasize in this lex orandi.  The prayer I confess is personal, but it is done in community even begging the other “to pray for me to the Lord our God.”  Through this prayer we are made to realize that the sin of one, harms others in the same way that the goodness of one enriches also others.  When a person is greedy for profit that he destroys the environment, his sin does not just affect him, but even whole communities.  When a person is corrupt and steals from government he harms not just his soul but also other people, people who would have benefitted greatly if people are only honest.  That also happens inside the church.  The scandal of one priest affects not just the priest concerned but all the priests and even the faith of some people.  In our families too, even the things we do out of sight of others or in darkness erodes trust and harms relationships.  Our lex credendi, our belief teaches us that sin is powerful, it can harm even the innocent, thus we should live our lives conscious of its effect.  As our gospel compares the kingdom with leaven, with yeast, we must remember that bad yeast can spoil the whole dough - this tiny amount of yeast can make or unmake the bread.

Today, we turn our sight to the Gloria - glory to God in the highest.  The new translation says, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will - ginbalik na naton ang good will.  Actually sa tuod-tuod lang mas manami ang bag-o nga hiligaynon nga translation - himaya sa Dios sa kahitaasan kag sa duta paghidait sa mga tawo nga iya nahamut-an.  This means that God gives his peace to the people he favors - people of good will means the people God favors.

This lex orandi, this rule of prayer has strong basis on our lex credendi, on the rule of faith.  Our relationship with God is sometimes wrongly likened to a business transaction - if you give me this, I will give you this; if I give you this then you have to give me this.   If this is our concept of God then we are no better than the pagans - a God we need to appease every time we need something from him.

But remember everything that is in us comes from God’s own initiative.  The letter of John says - It is God who loved us first. It is not, God has to be good to me because I am good to him.  No.  Rather we have to be good because God has been and will always be good to us.

In our first reading St. Paul compares the love of Christ to the church as an example of how a husband should love his wife. “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church.” Why did Christ die for the church, why did Christ offer his life for his people - is it because she is beautiful?  No she is not. Is it because Christ needed us?  Of course not - he is God, he has no need for us.  So is it because the church is good?  No, her members are not all of them good, obviously.  In fact the Fathers often call the church the chaste prostitute.  So why did Christ offer his life for us.  Because he loved us - not because of any merit of ours, not because we are attractive but because he loved us.  No reason is given for the only reason is love, and sometimes love can be most unreasonable.   This is the underlying reality when we say Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to people of good will, peace to the people he favors.  We do not deserve God’s gift to us, we do not merit them.  He gave this to us because he loves us, he loved us even until death.