Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen often told the story of a time when he served at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in the Soho region of London, England. He entered the church one morning to find a young lady haranguing his people with a narrative of how she didn’t believe that God existed. She said that she distributed pamphlets all around Great Britain proclaiming that God does not exist. She also said that she spoke in the parks of the country in order to convince people that God did not exist. The Archbishop approached her and said, “my young lady, I am so happy that you have so much faith in God.” She replied; “You idiot, I constantly proclaim that I do not believe in God. How can you assume that I do believe in him?” the Archbishop replied, “what do you think would happen if I distributed pamphlets all around Great Britain proclaiming that great purple centaurs were coming to devour everyone. What if I preached in all the parks of Great Britain proclaiming that people should run and hide because the centaurs are coming?” The young lady replied, “They would put you in jail, because you would be insane. Everyone knows that great purple centaurs do not exist!” The Archbishop then replied, “Then if God does not exist, why do they not arrest you on the same basis?” After a period of silence, the young lady replied, “I hate you!” The Archbishop replied, “exactly, atheism is not a proclamation of truth, it is a cry of rage!”

None of us would openly claim that we are atheists, but our sins, even the slightest reflect a personal lack of faith that God is real. The decision to sin is a momentary denial of his reality. In this manner the sin that we commit is evidence that we are enemies of God, and the sin is our cry of rage. The grace of God through which or faith is kindled causes our rage to abate.

CELEBRATION - Growth in love- 4th stage
SACRAMENTS-64-RECONCILIATION 7

Living a penitential life implies that we have a sense of sin, and an understanding of the weakness of our will. Within modern culture however, most spiritualist authors agree that Christians have lost a sense of sin. It might be more correct to say that they have lost an understanding of what is sin and what is not. This loss of a sense of sin is coupled with a loss of faith in God himself. Every sin in a special way reveals at least a temporary disbelief in his loving care for souls. During this time, we not only reveal disbelief in God, we become an enemy of God. Christ did not come because we were his Father’s friends, but because we were his enemies. Paul writes to the Romans (5:10) “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him by the death of his Son, it is all the more certain that we who have been reconciled will be saved by his life.”

Although it seems harsh to consider that all sin represents a denial of faith, there are even more severe effects of sin than just a lapse of personal faith.

Even though sin separates us from the love of God, there resides within every human heart, a desire for unity with Him. To achieve this unity requires a transformation of our souls that can occur only through a reversal of the damage due to sin. This transformation requires a complete, unreserved reconciliation with our neighbor and with God. This transformation that takes place in our soul, can only occur by entering in a real way into the life, death and resurrection of the incarnate Christ.

This unity with the incarnate Christ occurs only when a person comes to realize the terrible devastation that sin brings into the world. The seriousness of sin can be realized by the fact that for only one denial of God’s providence, Satan and all his followers were cast out of heaven and God created Hell. For one sin of denial, Adam and Eve were cast out of paradise to live their lives separated from God and all his many wondrous gifts. This one sin was to plague mankind throughout all ages. For one sin, Moses, who led God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, was not allowed to enter the Promised land. When anyone realizes that they are just as important in the mind of God as was Adam, Eve and Moses, they will come to understand that their sin, even though seemingly inconsequential in this world, has serious effects within God’s province.

The seriousness of personal sin is not limited to the damage done to the soul of the sinner. Because all are united through the communion of saints (or communion of souls) within the body of Christ the Church, every sin of commission or omission affect the entire body of Christ. The mystical body of Christ, the Church, like our somatic body is injured in its entirety when damage is one to any single part. When we injure our foot, it is not just the foot that hurts, but the entire body responds to the hurt. The heart rate is increased, respiration is altered, blood flow to every part of the body is altered. In the same way an injury to one soul through sin, affects the entire body of Christ, the Church. When one soul is weakened by sin, the entire body of Christ is weakened. When one soul is graced, the entire body is graced. This relationship reveals the interdependence of all souls through the communion of souls.

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM
ARTICLE NO. 1380

It is highly fitting that Christ should have wanted to remain present to his Church in this unique way. Since Christ was about to take his departure from his own in his visible form, he wanted to give us his sacramental presence; since he was about to offer himself on the cross to save us, he wanted us to have the memorial of the love with which he loved us “to the end,” (Jn 13:1) even to the giving of his life. In his Eucharistic presence he remains mysteriously in our midst as the one who loved us and gave himself for us, (Gal 2:20) and he remains under signs that express and communicate this love:

The Church and the world have a great need for Eucharistic worship. Jesus awaits us in this sacrament of love. Let us not refuse the time to go to meet him in adoration, in contemplation full of faith, and open to making amends for the serious offenses and crimes of the world. Let our adoration never cease. (John Paul II, Domincae canae, 3)

ADORATION OF HIS PRESENCE

Deacon Jim Breazile OCDS

Christ living his life in visible form

Taught and lived a holy norm

In accord with his Father’s plan

To glorify the souls of earthly man

By death and ascension undergone

His earthly form was withdrawn

But remains as sacramental presence

A living memorial without pretense

Assures the truth of his perpetual love

And lifts human souls to realms above

Adoring his presence without cease

Each soul is perfected to live in peace