How love gives us victory over sin

Good News ReflectionThursday of the 24th Week in Ordinary TimeSeptember 17, 2009
Today's Saint: Robert BellarminePray for RCIA Catechumens:http://wordbytes.org/saints/DailyPrayers/RobertBellarmine.htm
Today's Readings:1 Tim 4:12-16Ps 111:7-10 (with 2)Luke 7:36-50http://www.usccb.org/nab/091709.shtmlUSCCB Podcast of the Readings:http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_09_17.mp3
How love gives us victory over sin
Have you ever thought about HOW sins are forgiven? Jesus took our sins to the cross – they died with him there. But is that the whole "how" of it? No. As today's first reading points out, we have to bring ourselves TO this salvation. And how does that happen?
It's more than just saying, "I'm sorry." It's more than going to confession and doing the penance that the priest assigns. It's still easy to say "sorry" and then commit the sin again. It's easy to say, "Oops, I shouldn't have done that" without truly repenting – i.e., without changing how we react to the challenges in life that caused us to sin in the first place.
Jesus explains in the Gospel reading why the woman's (or anyone's) many sins are forgiven: "because of her great love."
Love is what prevents us from sinning. Any of us who genuinely want to be loving but sin anyway are usually unaware, at the moment of decision, that our behavior is hurting anyone. We don't sin out of deliberate malice. If we truly love, then we truly care and as soon as we discover that we've caused pain, we're motivated by love to undo the damage as best as we can (unless we love our pride more than we love those who were hurt by our sin).
If we truly love, when others sin against us, our love for them motivates us to give them the benefit of the doubt; we assume that they didn't really, deliberately intend to hurt us. Malice was not their motive any more than it's ours. They were reacting to something internal that needs healing, perhaps, or they made a poor decision based on ignorance or short-sightedness or distraction. Realizing this makes it easier to forgive them. We can pray with our Lord on the cross: "Father, forgive them, for they don't understand what they're doing."
I'm not excusing sin. God holds everyone accountable for their behavior. We are all capable of paying attention to what we're doing and discerning whether or not it's motivated by love. With God's help, we CAN stop reacting sinfully to the stimuli around us, and we CAN choose to act in love. We can learn from our mistakes, overcome our ignorances, look beyond our self-centered little worlds, and prevent distractions from deafening our consciences.
When we make love our highest priority, temptation has less and less power over us, because caring about others distracts us from the decision to sin. And when the love that we have for others makes us regret the sins we do commit, we are healed, our sins are forgiven, and we're much less likely to make the same bad decisions in the future. Furthermore, the Sacrament of Reconciliation empowers us to remain in love by a special grace from God.
When we love, our faith has become our salvation. As it was for the woman in the Gospel, Jesus says to us: "Now you can go in peace."
© 2009 by Terry A. ModicaFor PERMISSION to copy any of my reflections, go to:http://gogoodnews.net/DailyReflections/copyrights-DR.htm
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