Do Not Be Afraid

It has been a mark of the Church’s life from the Death of Our Lord to the present day that persecution is inevitable. The lives of the saints, even in the Middle Ages of Europe, reflect persecution at the hands of men and women who do not wish the Gospel to be the driving force of their thoughts and actions.

I have always found it fascinating to read the homilies of Medieval saints; they preach patience, chastity, justice, and the dangers of pride and selfishness. In other words, they are always aware of the sinful nature of man.

We Are So Easily Scandalized

One of the peculiar marks of modern men and women is our ability to be easily scandalized. We are shocked when we find out that people in the Church are sinners, sometimes sinners on a grand scale. As a priest, I have often marveled at our ability to be shocked when we find that we are sinners!

Many earnest and devout Catholics feel deeply frustrated that they cannot seem to escape or overcome all the sin in their lives. And worse, many such Catholics believe that if they continue to struggle with sin, it must be because, deep down, they do not love God or they are simply not trying hard enough.

I do not want to minimize sin; it is indeed the most destructive force on the face of the earth. What I do want to emphasize is that sin does not define us. It never tells us what we are; while we yet live, sin has not had the last word.

I hear confessions several days every week, and it is not abnormal for me to encounter someone who believes their sins make them unlovable in some way. So many believe that deep down, if seen for who they truly are, all the parts of their heart and soul they seek to hide from themselves and God, they would be exposed as a fraud. They would be unlovable. But this is a lie—a lie from the devil himself.

Why are We Afraid?

And what is the fruit of the lie that sin makes me unlovable? How do human beings respond to not living in the truth of God’s love? Fear. We become afraid of our sins and the sins of others. And if we are afraid of our sins, we will live in fear constantly. Our sin is always with us because we are fallen. Our nature is wounded. Our tendency is always toward what is easiest instead of what is good.

As modern people, the reason we are afraid of our sins and the reason we are easily scandalized are connected. On some level, we buy into the foundational myth of the Enlightenment and the post-Enlightenment world that we live in, that man is perfectible this side of Heaven. We disregard concupiscence and our broken human nature’s tendency toward sin.

Here I am Lord

St. John tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. When we allow the love of Christ to penetrate our hearts and minds, when we give him our sin, then fear is forced to flee. This means allowing Christ to look at me as I am; it means I hold out to Him all the parts of me I am most ashamed of and find most repellent.

It means I treat my sins with the seriousness they have, no more and no less. St. Catherine of Sienna tells us never to think about our sins without meditating on God’s mercy. For to think about our sins without also thinking of God’s mercy is actually to think about our sins incorrectly, falsely. It is to think of them the way the devil thinks of his sin: as that which defines him.

Justified by Grace

We ought never to be surprised by our sins. But this does not mean we accept them as the status quo either. It means that even as we seek to root out sin, we recognize that we will never be fully perfected on this side of Heaven. And this is not a cause for discouragement but of gratitude. Gratitude that Christ’s grace is what justifies and allows me to love as I ought. It means that Our Father in Heaven is pleased even with our stumbles. And if God Himself takes joy in our faltering footsteps in the way of the Cross, who are we to gainsay Him?

My sin does not define me. My fear is not who I am. Will I allow the virtue of Faith to prevail by believing the Lord Jesus when He tells me that He loves me? Will I allow the virtue of Hope to prevail by trusting in His promise to make me perfect, one day at a time, by His grace?

Will I allow the virtue of Charity to live in my heart by having compassion on sinners stumbling on the way, or more worthy of compassion still, those who do not know the way at all?

Do not be afraid. Give Him your sins. The love of God endures forever.

About Father Andrew Clark

Father Andrew Clark is the second of eight children. He was homeschooled before attending Christendom College, where he graduated in 2014 with a B.A. in History. He entered seminary formation for the Diocese of Arlington in 2017 and was ordained a priest on June 3, 2023. He is assigned as parochial vicar to Blessed Sacrament Parish in Alexandria VA. He is privileged to be one of Dr. Mary Kay Clark's many grandchildren.