In
speaking with many non-Catholic Christians about the significance of Jesus’
death on the Cross and what was accomplished through it, I find that there is
often a disconnect between the Catholic understanding of grace and many
popular, Protestant understandings of grace and its effect. The popular,
Protestant concept of grace that I am writing about here is the one in which it
is understood that Christ applies his grace as an undeserved mercy and
forgiveness of sin, restoring the sinner to God perfectly, without the need of
any future serious following of the Law. In that understanding, sin has no true eternal effect on the soul any more after the start of the Christian life. (Some Protestants do hold, of course, another
nuanced perspective that it takes some very hard work of persistent and
rebellious sin or outright apostasy to “fall from grace,” as St. Paul put it
(Gal. 5:4)). The Catholic perspective is much more radical.
The
Catholic Church teaches that sin can still lead to eternal death, even for a
baptized (born-again) Christian. In fact, the Church teaches that one single
act of grave, fully-willed and fully-known sin will rupture our relationship
with God and destroy Charity within our souls (CCC, 1854-1857). “For if you
live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to
death the deeds of the body, you will live,” wrote St. Paul (Romans 8:13-14
NRSVCE). St. John was in agreement when he wrote, “There is sin that is mortal”
(1 John 5:16 NRSVCE). For some Protestants, though, a specific objection
arises: “What did Jesus actually do for us, or accomplish, if we can still sin
and lose Eternal Life? I thought that Jesus died to forgive me of my sins. I
thought that I could not earn my
salvation. What does the Law have to do with my salvation, when I will always
be a guilty sinner, who broke the Law?”
Allow
me to paint a picture for the mind here and perhaps retell a little bit of
history, in order to elaborate on the Catholic teaching of the Gospel and the
relevance of Law. Most importantly, and as a preface, what is sin, and why does
it rupture our relationship with God? Is it merely a rule being broken, causing
an angry God to justly punish us for not “playing by the rules?” No, certainly
not. Our God is not so simple, and certainly not so stupid. The Law, as St.
Paul wrote, is for our instruction: “If it had not been for the law, I would
not have known sin” (Rom. 7:7 NRSVCE).
Our God is Love itself. When we
sin, we are falling outside of that perfect relationship of Love itself, which
always and completely gives of itself for the other. Sin is the misuse of
creation, the broken use of creation or creatures. Sin is destructive to
ourselves and others, always; it is communal. Sin is disease in our
relationships with all of creation, and the Source of that creation. It kills
us, because sin is any act against love, and is outside of he who is Life and
Love. The natural consequence of sin is to be separated from Life and Love,
simply because sin is the absence of that Life and Love.
In the beginning, when humankind
was created, we were created in the state of Grace. We shared God’s life and
lived in perfect loving relationship with each other, with creation, and with
the God of Love, the Source of Life and Love. Sin, though, entered the world,
through freewill and the temptation of selfish gain or pride. Suddenly, the
love relationship was broken, not just between humans, but between humans and
God. We became ill. We became blind to the Truth of Love. Our hearts grew darker
and darker. Being separated from the Source of Love, we became unable to love
to the utmost ability. Sin became a slavery. Law, whether understood through
nature (like murder obviously being contrary to love) or understood through divine revelation, was that which merely showed how far humankind truly was from God and its origin. While acting as a light in the darkness – “Your word is a lamp
unto my feet and a light unto my path” – the Law itself did not provide the strength
to fully accomplish the Law (Psalm 119:105). The Spirit would come to do that,
but grace had not yet been fully given.
To be continued …
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