a suicidal act
Pope Saint John Paul II was a regular penitent[1] to the confessional and an fervent believer in the efficacy of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, so much so that he wrote an apostolic exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia (Reconciliation and Penance.) In its introduction he speaks of the deep divisions that permeate society and identifies their root as a wound in man’s inmost self, that which we call sin.
Expulsion from the Garden
In his exhortation he reminds us of the words of St. John the apostle, “If we say, ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say, ‘We have not sinned,’ we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”[2]
This modern saintly pope further notes:
“In this sense the story of the first sin in Eden and the story of Babel, in spite of notable differences in content and form, have one thing in common: In both there is an exclusion of God through direct opposition to one of his commandments, through an act of rivalry, through the mistaken pretension of being ‘like him.’ In the story of Babel the exclusion of God is presented not so much under the aspect of opposition to him as of forgetfulness and indifference toward him, as if God were of no relevance in the sphere of man’s joint projects. But in both cases the relationship to God is severed with violence. In the case of Eden there appears in all its seriousness and tragic reality that which constitutes the ultimate essence and darkness of sin: disobedience to God, to His law, to the moral norm that he has given man, inscribing it in his heart and confirming and perfecting it through revelation.
Exclusion of God, rupture with God, disobedience to God: Throughout the history of mankind this has been and is, in various forms, sin. It can go as far as a very denial of God and his existence: This is the phenomenon called atheism.
It is the disobedience of a person who, by a free act, does not acknowledge God’s sovereignty over his or her life, at least at that particular moment in which he or she transgresses God’s law.”
If we are completely honest there is very little to differentiate ourselves from those ancient stories of man’s concupiscence toward sin. It is not at all difficult to observe the same attitudes and behaviors, the same sins, the same evil around us today.
God forgives us, but to be made clean we must first acknowledge our sinfulness and earnestly promise to sin no more.
[1] He readily admitted to approaching the confessional on a weekly basis, which begs the question as to what sins this saintly priest might have felt compelled to confess.
[2] 1 Jn 1:8-10.
