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What Do You See?

You could spend all your days inside the Catholic Church, and not see what you are supposed to see. You could spend all your days outside it, and see it clear as a mountain sky: God loves you.

 That's what it's all for, you know. Love, in both directions.

I was gently reminded by some fellows and an angry (for now) ex-Catholic that the Church teaches that you can "fall out of grace," as it were. Well and good. I didn't protest that phrasing because I am unaware of the dogmatic definitions of the Council of Trent (of happy memory). I protested because of the fear in the whole thing. Man, if I believe in the sacraments of holy mother Church and in their power, isn't this basically saying that God didn't love me when...

 With love, you buffoon! You may find out that you're worse than you think you are. Welcome to the gospel. If you find yourself falling into the same sin over and over, the only possible explanation is that you and me don't fully understand, at the level of our souls, how deeply God loves us.

That's why at a certain level, talking about falling out of grace is absurd. What could you do, that his love cannot reach you? Leave the fairly arcane discussions of merit and the like to one side. Isn't it obvious we need to answer that question?

How much freedom would you find if you began to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation saying, "I know He loves me; that's why I'm here"? I could be nuts, but I don't think God, who gave us His only-begotten Son, has it out for us.

It's not Monday any more, is it?
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