A privilege is defined as a special right or benefit not particularly granted to all. It might also be defined as that same special right or benefit not acknowledged by all.
My priest, Father Mike Joly, expounds in this week's Pastor's Reflection:
There are certainly plenty of sins outside of me, in other people’s lives. There are transgressions and
delusions, apostates and false teachers. There is no shortage of opportunity NOT to acknowledge my own sins before the Lord and to avoid changing in me what needs to change. There are plenteous occasions for me to pray “ABOUT” other people’s sinfulness and frailties. Unfortunately for the one who does not acknowledge her/his own sin, there is no discovery of one’s true meaning; there is no finding Jesus Christ in a personal way; there is no Savior at work in me. Pope Francis, our Holy Father, in his beautiful and piercing reality check tells everyone: “Sin, properly assumed, is the privileged place of personally finding Jesus Christ our Savior, of rediscovering the deep meaning he has for me.” (A Sense of Mission, October 2, 2013) There is a beautiful freedom and humanity hidden inside of one’s willingness to grapple with personal sin. We have to acknowledge our own sinfulness and the toll it takes on our loving communion with Christ, if we are to understand the meaning of what it is to be human. Consider these facts about our own sin:
- My sin must be properly assumed by me,
- It is then the “privileged place” for me to encounter personally the power and mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
- I then become more in touch with what it is to be a true human being.
Failure to acknowledge and properly assume my own sin leads to a lack of repentance for my sin. And a lack of repentance leads to a refusal of divine forgiveness. And the result is a tragic lack of human meaning in my life. A lack of acknowledgement leads to a lack of repentance, which leads to a refusal of God’s mercy, which results in a human life without human meaning.
The tax collector in today’s Gospel passage “properly assumed” the state of his own sinfulness. This is good news for this guy. He is spiritually in touch with reality. He is correct. This means God is at work in him. Even from the last pew, this man enjoys “the privileged place of personally finding Jesus Christ our Savior.” He prays with awareness and sincerity, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” (Luke 8:13).
It is equally good to sit either in the first pew or in the last. Physical location in the place doesn’t matter. What’s crucial is that someone is spiritually aware, powerfully plugged in, repentant, forgiven and renewed in Christ. This is the “privileged place of personally finding Jesus Christ,” of which Pope Francis speaks. My sin properly assumed by me creates this sacred moment and place for this encounter to happen.
Read the whole thing.
We are called by God to accept the privilege of being fully human by acknowledging and properly assuming our own sin.
Do this and move toward true freedom.
Do it not and stay stagnantly in chains.
Make the move.
Carry on.