Fr. Charles Johnson, O.P.
The recent lecture here on campus had an enticing title, “The
Persistence of Guilt in a Post-Religious Age.”
As always, the questions afterwards were interesting. One question from the audience, more like a
commentary, was given in a self-assured manner as the person commented that
“modern science and technology have shown that morality does not exist in
reality” and “we, as human beings, are not moral agents.”
Still, no matter what science and technology have shown, evil
persists. People still commit harm
against themselves and one another, in words, deeds and thoughts and omissions.
Sigmund Freud thought he had wrapped it all up nicely as he taught
that the “demands of conscience (or the ‘super-ego’) are simply a continuation
of the severity of the external authority.”
Not even the simplistic views of Freud are sufficient for dealing
with the real world.
After all the explanations that seek to remove any vestige of
morality and faith from the sphere of human behavior, we still remain with
questions of a world complicated, not by the persistence of guilt, but by the
reality of evil and, even, sin.
Where do we turn? Forget
Freud, he also said that it was not reasonable to love your neighbor as
yourself. He held that he could not love
a stranger unless that person offered him some benefit.
Freud said that “not only would it be hard to love his neighbor,
but that it would be wrong to do so.”
Well, if that’s how you understand love, then you’ll end up thinking
you’re incapable of doing any wrong or evil.
He confused love with selfishness.
Even the most intelligent and gifted of individuals can also be
very difficult to live with.
We need faith and honesty to make us real.
In his recent interview in a leading Jesuit journal, Pope Francis
was asked who he is, “who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” He responds, in all honesty, “I am a sinner
whom the Lord has looked upon. … I am a sinner, but I trust in the infinite
mercy and patience of Jesus Christ, and I accept in a spirit of penance.”
No hint of a man burdened by guilt or any guilt-complex. The Holy Father knows he is not perfect.
Pope Francis knows that in life he has committed sins and that he
needs God to forgive him. I’m sure he
would be among the first to ask forgiveness of any person he might have
offended.
In today’s Gospel parable, we hear of two sinners. One knows he is a sinner, while the other,
from a self-imposed and mistaken sense of moral superiority, thinks he is not a
sinner.
One is humbled by honest recognition of his condition, while the
other becomes arrogant as he prizes his good deeds.
One asks for mercy, while the other seems incapable of giving it,
even in his thoughts.
One acknowledges that he needs God, while the other fellow seems
to think that God needs him.
Fr. Ron Rolheiser writes that “to sin is to betray – in love. To have lost a sense of personal sin is to
have lost a sense of being personally and deeply loved.”
He is not seeking to water down the understanding of sin, but
place it more in our hearts, so that in our minds we don’t keep making
excuses.
When it comes to guilt and sin, rationalizations are not very
helpful. Rationalizing can take us
further away from the wrong we’ve done, said or thought.
Sadly, it also takes us further away from others and makes us
think we do not need to be near Him - Jesus
- the only one who truly cares to take sin and guilt away from us.
It’s spiritually healthy for us to consider ourselves as Pope
Francis does himself, as sinners.
Jesus looks upon us and sees us for who we are. He never turns away. He doesn’t just know how to heal and forgive us, he wants to. He believes in us. Hopefully, we believe Him.
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