If someone feels excluded from the Church because it won’t embrace their sin, that is not a problem with the Church.
Jesus never came and said, “Go about and form the Faith to your likings. I don’t want you to ever feel bad about anything you do.”
Instead He said, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the one through whom they occur. Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.” Luke 17:1-3
Rebuke him? Jesus, are you sure? Because all around us are people telling us that we can’t ever, ever, ever judge anything as sin.
Yes, He’s sure, because He wants people brought into new life with Him and, that very simply means, sin isn’t good for us and no Church should tell us it’s fine or even accept it.
If a loved one rebukes your sin, even I dare say somewhat harshly, it’s not because they hate your guts.
We cannot expect people that care about us to accept sin in our lives. If they truly love us, it will pain them to see us sin and that love moves them to say, “Hey, what you’re doing, it’s not okay.”
They are trying to guard your soul.
Acceptance of sin is not loving, it just isn’t. It’s to watch a soul sink into darkness as you stand by cheering them along. If I love you, why would I want that for you?
It’s not fun being rebuked. We have to face ourselves and find out we aren’t perfect. We may *gasp* feel some guilt. It requires a bit of effort to not just give in to everything and all this makes us uncomfortable. We’d much rather just have everyone pat us on the head and tell us that Jesus is fine, just fine, with everything we want to do.
We must accept rebuking, Catholic Pilgrims, it is good for us. We cannot become who God meant us to be if we think we are perfect from the get-go.
We must also be willing to rebuke others out of love. Christ literally tells us to. And after rebuking, remind them of the mercy and love of Christ and that there is a way to be free of the guilt and shackles of sin.
Live the Faith boldly and travel well this Monday.
