Commissioned: Timeless Truth: The Gospel Made SimpleSample

Sin Separates

Sin is choosing to disobey God. The Book of Genesis tells us that our first parents made this fatal choice, and our race lost its innocence. We have inherited a weakened ability to obey God, which we call original sin. Every person in history has followed in the path of our first parents—we have all chosen to disobey God.

The worst result of sin is this: we have been separated from God. God created us to enjoy the loving community of the Trinity, to be alive with the love of God. The tragic result of sin is that we are spiritually dead. Our hearts are hard. Our motives are selfish. Our minds are not animated by the Holy Spirit. We are cut off from the glory of God, the glory he created us to share. We feel this separation as guilt, emptiness, meaninglessness. We can picture this separation as a deep canyon, with us on one side and God on the other.

Sin not only separates us from God, it separates us from one another. We see this tragic reality all around us. We see it in our personal lives—jealousy, distrust and uncontrolled anger. We see it in our society—oppression, greed, warfare, injustice. God never intended these things, they are the results of our sin. Sin even causes us to be alienated from ourselves; we experience shame, self-hatred and self-destructive impulses.

But sin has an even greater consequence: eternal separation from God and eternal spiritual death. God doesn’t want anyone to be separated from him even for one day, much less for eternity. Our sin grieves God; it causes Him pain. But rather than destroying sinners, God wants to save them. He wants to rescue us from sin, to save us. That is what the Good News is all about.

Stop, think and pray:

As we know all too well, even baptized Christians must battle against sin. One good spiritual disciple in this battle is a regular examination of conscience, which involves reflecting prayerfully on one's thoughts, words, and deeds in order to identify any sins. Let’s do that now. Let’s confess our sins to God right now, and let’s not neglect the sacrament of reconciliation.

“My God, I am sorry for my sins with all my heart. In choosing to do wrong and failing to do good, I have sinned against you whom I should love above all things. I firmly intend, with your help, to do penance, to sin no more, and to avoid whatever leads me to sin. Our Savior, Jesus Christ, suffered and died for us. In his name, my God, have mercy.”