Watch as Msgr. Don reflects on the importance of sin in your relationship with God, and how this gift should not be feared.

I don't know if you're like me, but when I grew up as a Catholic, the one thing I learned when I was in preparation for first communion was that there was one thing that God asked of me, and it was very, very clear: don't sin. I was even told that if I committed a sin, it was like doing something that was painful to Jesus. Like I was hanging him on the cross. My sin caused pain in this figure, Jesus. When you look at Jesus in the ministry, he didn't look at sin as some horrific thing; in fact, he found that only those people who were honest enough to say, “Yes, I'm a sinner,” those are the people he would go to and he would be able to work with.

So there's something about sin that is essential in our ability to be in touch with God. Because if it wasn't for sin, we don’t need God. We don't need God's guidance. We don't need his spirit inside of us. So one of the things about the value of sin is it continually reminds us that there is no way that we can live this life as we're called to live it without being dependent on someone besides ourselves.

Sin is a reminder that we cannot handle the things in life on our own. We need a partner. We need someone who is there. The interesting thing about the way God looks at sin, he doesn't look at it like, “Stop it, don't do that,” he looks at it like, learn from that. It's your human nature. It's the part of you that I am working with. It's the part of you I want to be a part of transforming. And the sin is a constant indicator to you where God wants to get into your life and change something. 

That's why repentance is such an important part of sin. Think about what was I doing? Why did I do it? And God will say, it's because this part of you needs me. This part of you needs me to open you to who you really are. The fullness of who you are. So don't ever have that sense that sin is the big obstacle to your relationship with God. Not facing your sin. Denying that you ever are involved in sin. A refusal to look at sin in your life. That's the problem, not that you sin.

It's a gift to be able to sin in a sense, because it's the connecting link between you and a loving, forgiving father. That's why God had to reveal the fullness of who He is, the fullness of his relationship with you by revealing His love in the form of forgiveness. One key message of the entire New Testament is forgiveness. So it makes sin not the enemy, but the means through which you grow.

Have a good day.

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