Reconciliation, God’s Initiative

The sin of our first parents was met with a desire of reconciliation from God. God, in Genesis was looking for Adam and Eve though He knew they were hiding and why they were hiding. He asked questions designed to lead to reconciliation like the priest in the confessional trying to lead the penitent to have a good confession. The confessor, like God, offers an opportunity for the penitent to be humbly disposed, to be sorry for the sins committed, and resolve to atone for it through acts of penance which are incidentally similar to acts of love. A spouse, for example, after apologizing for an offense, struggles to reconcile with acts of love. Perhaps, more flowers and dates? It was tragic when Adam and Eve did not receive the gentle insinuations of reconciliation offered to them by our loving God. They ended up even blaming God for the sinful act they committed. Anyone who studies the Bible discovers this pattern: God always initiates the act of reconciliation, at the same time respecting man’s freedom to respond.

Out of the abundance of God’s love, animals were sacrificed to clothe Adam and Eve, after which, God taught them the value of sacrifice as a prerequisite for redemption. Pain precedes new life as Eve will experience greater pain in giving birth. Adam, toil and sweat precede a rich harvest. This teaching by God sets into motion the promise of salvation. What love! We may have lost our preternatural gifts of immortality, infused knowledge, integrity, and impassibility, but God’s promise of salvation definitely gave us eternal hope to be able to reconcile with Him. No wonder the devil is filled with pride and envy on our lot and will continue to tempt souls to sin, to derail the loving relationship between man and God. We only need to be humble, knowing God awaits us always, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son.

To nourish us, Jesus left us the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. To bring us back to Jesus, the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Add to these Sacraments, the Lenten season where we are today ushers us forth to deeper prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. These are means or vessels for us to help us regain our integrity which was one of the gifts we lost in paradise. We disintegrate when we do not address the struggle between our body and spirit. When tempted, the pleasurable desire to eat bread, as we all our sensual beings, Jesus taught us that, “…not by bread alone that man lives…” The power to rule kingdoms without a sense of service as is meant for us, we tend to misuse it. And finally, fame and glory as Jesus would descend from the highest point of the Jewish Temple for everyone to behold and see. We too, bestow glory and fame to those who did well, like our graduates next month, especially those in the honor-roll. However, if it gets into our head, forgetting our focus on God, the source of all our gifts, we end up like Lucifer who lost his place in heaven. Humility helps us turn to God when faced with disintegration. We only achieve integrity when we are in the state of grace, thoroughly washed clean and reconciled with God through the Sacraments. No wonder, a guest in the wedding feast who is not properly dressed is thrown outside, as recounted in the Scriptures. Jesus came out of the desert victorious, He who is humble, always alluding to His Father. We too must be the same.

Today, the world is in peril. We are invited to offer our prayers, fasting, and almsgiving for peace in Ukraine. We may be far from them, but we belong to one family of God. When one member of the body is not well, as St. Paul teaches, the whole body is affected. We need to go to the Divine Doctor for healing. Human effort has been repeatedly proven to never be enough. Whatever emotions that run high, like anger and hatred because of another crisis befalling us, as we have not yet actually fully recovered from the pandemic, would only serve to distract us from our efforts to reconcile with God, with others, and within us. Sin is like a fog that hinders our way to the graces offered by God. May we not miss the opportunity in front of us in this crisis, like our first parents who were given the freedom to accept the offer of reconciliation by our all-loving God. Rest assured, our Blessed Mother will always point to us the way to her Son. (Johnny Sulit)