A MORALITY WITHOUT SIN?
It’s frequently said that the consciousness of sin has disappeared. That’s not the whole story. What’s happened is that the crisis of faith has brought with it a different way, not always healthier, of confronting one’s own guilt. In fact, leaving God out of it, quite a few live out their guilt in a more confused and lonely manner.
Some have been left stuck in a more primitive and archaic form of living their sin. They feel themselves ‘soiled’ by their wickedness. Unworthy of living together with their loved ones. They don’t know the experience of a forgiving God, but neither have they found another path to free themselves of their inner unease.
Others keep living their sin as «transgression». It’s certain that they have cleansed their conscience of some «commandments», but what hasn’t disappeared in their inner self is the image of a law-giving God before whom they don’t know how to situate themselves. They feel their guilt as a transgression with which it’s not easy to live.
A lot of people live out their sin as «self-accusation». When their faith in God gets diluted, guilt gets converted into an «accusation without accuser» (Paul Ricoeur). It’s not enough that no one condemns them. They condemn themselves. But how to free oneself from self-condemnation? Is it enough to forget the past and try to eliminate one’s own responsibility?
People also try to reduce sin to just one more «psychological experience». A blockage of the person. The sinner would experience a kind of «sickness», a victim of their own weakness. We’ve even gotten to the point of talking about a «morality without sin». But is it possible to live a moral life without a personal experience of guilt?
For the believer, sin is a reality. It’s useless to cover it up. Though you know yourself as very limited in your freedom, as a Christian you feel yourself responsible for your life before your own self and before God. That’s why we confess our sin and recognize it as an «offense against God». But against a God who only seeks the happiness of the human being. We must never forget that sin offends God in so far as we hurt ourselves, beings who are infinitely loved by God.
Taken by surprise by the presence of Jesus, Peter reacts by realizing his sin: «Leave me, Lord, I am a sinful man». But Jesus doesn’t leave him; instead he entrusts him with a new mission: «Do not be afraid; from now on it is people you will be catching». To recognize our sin and ask for forgiveness is, for the believer, the healthy way of renewing ourselves and growing as a person.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
