WHAT IS SIN?
Perhaps the simplest definition of sin is that it is a break — a break in the relationship we have with God, a break in the relationship we have with another, a break in the relationship we have with our innermost selves. Whenever we experience such a break, we also desire to be healed. We call such healing reconciliation.
The reality of sin
There are three different kinds of sin: private, social and public.
PRIVATE SIN: At one time, private sin formed the bulk of the sins we called to mind when we thought about our transgressions. Sin was seen primarily as an offense against the Law of God. The Ten Commandments formed the backdrop against which we examined ourselves. The Law of Moses was the guide, rather than the mercy of God. And we never really thought about our participation in other kinds of sin and evil.
SOCIAL SIN: Today we stand in the midst of a complex moral environment, with new global dimensions brought to us by the immediacy of modern telecommunications. Consequently, we struggle, often very much alone, to know what to do. This kind of sinfulness is seldom called to mind, but that doesn’t make it any less real. Whether we care to admit it or not, we contribute to social sin every time we fail to feed the hungry, or visit prisoners, or tend the sick, or house the homeless. We contribute to social sin through things like racism, sexism, consumerism, homophobia, militarism. Some people in our Church consider it sinful to pay taxes that are used to build bombs. Their voices cannot be ignored.
PUBLIC SIN: We seem to have more “public sinners” than we used to, perhaps because people are more open about what we might call “lifestyle disobedience”: namely, divorce and remarriage, gay and lesbian partnerships, living together outside of marriage, not going to Mass anymore...
While such people might be honest, straightforward, loving, caring people, they are public sinners, because they have not formally, publicly, reconciled with the Church. Some make the decision to return on their own, some stay away, some have given up hope, most don’t know what to do.
There are other kinds of public sinners. Some say that the overly wealthy, those who hoard money, are public sinners. Some accuse abortion doctors and clinic workers of being public sinners.
Many ways to reconcile
For different levels of sinfulness, there needs to be different ways of confessing and moving on to wholeness and grace. This has been the constant teaching of the Church: Sin is forgiven
- When we participate in the Eucharist (the primary way of forgiving sins!);
- By the sacraments: Baptism, Anointing, Reconciliation;
- When we pray and ask God’s forgiveness;
- By almsgiving and charity;
- By fasting and abstinence;
- By leading another sinner to Christ; or
- By forgiving others.
The bottom line is that sin is a reality, and we are part of that. Maybe we cannot set clear lines of definition, but that by no means makes it less real for us. The laws of sin are written on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33): we know inherently what is and what isn’t sinful. And when we realize that what we’ve done is sinful, we cannot avoid ourselves for long! The Good News is that with the Lord there is mercy and the fullness of redemption. God will redeem us from all our sins. In that is our real hope.
