Stop condemning yourself

Good News Reflection
Tuesday of the Second week of Christmas
January 5, 2010

Today's Memorial: Saint John Neumann
Pray for your country:
http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/JohnNeumann.htm

Today's Readings:
1 John 3:11-21
Ps 100:1b-5
John 1:43-51
http://www.universalis.com/20100105/mass.htm

Today's Readings for the USA:
http://www.usccb.org/nab/010510.shtml
USCCB Podcast of the Readings:
http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/10_01_05.mp3

Stop condemning yourself

Are you harder on yourself than you should be? Are you slow to forgive yourself? Do you beat yourself up because of past sins and other failures? Self-condemnation steals our joy. And today's first reading restores it by teaching us how to reassure our hearts when we feel guilty.

It says that we know that we've passed from death to life, from sinfulness to saintliness, from the devil's domain to the kingdom of God, because of the love that we have for others. It isn't perfect yet, but we can be sure that this love is genuine when it expresses itself in good deeds.

If there's anyone whom you think you do not love (an ex-spouse perhaps?), consider this: Would you be willing to do a good deed for that person? (Praying for them counts as a good deed.) Then the truth is, you have love and you remain in Christ. God does not condemn you, and therefore neither should you when you imperfectly give love.

The final part of this scripture holds a very important key. We have "confidence in God" if and when we allow ourselves to stop condemning ourselves. We must look at the truth about our core saintliness: The Holy Spirit dwells within us and, because of this, we have an innate desire to be holy. Therefore, we belong to the truth, i.e., we belong to the Spirit of Truth. And if we belong to God's Spirit, we have his supernatural ability to make holy decisions, even when we're tempted to sin.

Sin is natural; saintliness is supernatural, but it's our true nature because of our baptism. By looking at what's good in us instead of focusing on our failures, we can gain confidence in our own ability to be saintly because we know that it's God who gives us that ability. And this makes it easier to recognize and rely on God's help in being holy.

Jesus did not come to condemn the world, remember? He came to save us from sin and its destruction, and he came to redeem our sinfulness and transfigure us into saints. Those of us who want to be saints are never condemned by him, not even when we fall back into old sinful patterns. When we fail to live as the holy people that his Holy Spirit enables us to be, he isn't happy, he's not approving of what we do, and he asks us to "Go and sin no more." But rather than condemn us, he helps us.

God's love never stops, it's never conditional, never based on how saintly we are. His love is based on his own perfect holiness. And his helpfulness is based on our needs and our willingness to be helped.

Refusing to forgive ourselves is the same as saying that God didn't know what he was doing when Jesus was crucified. It's saying that God should refuse to forgive us and that he's stupid for loving us unconditionally. Now, doesn't that sound ridiculous! You are God's beloved: Have confidence in his ability and his desire to help you live in the reality of your saintliness.

© 2010 by Terry A. Modica
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