“to stand before the Son of Man”

In the Act of Contrition we pray, “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because of thy just punishments, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve with the help of Thy grace to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin. Amen.”

Why do we detest all our sins? There are three reasons given in the Act of Contrition. One, because God’s just punishments. Two, because they offend God. We must hate sin. Through sin we deprive our self and others of good, we fail to love God, and we offend God. If we do not hate sin, we will never stop sinning. The Catechism says we must have a “repugnance toward the evil actions.” Repugnance is a strong feeling of disgust. The thought depriving our self and others of good, not giving God our love, and offending God, who loves us, should disgust us. Sin is disgusting and this is why we should not only detest sin, but should also avoid the near occasion of sin.
 
Why do we tolerate sin? Many times sin is subtle, it creeps in unnoticed. The Gospel says, “Be vigilant at all times…” Sin is a deprivation of good. We must desire good and protect the good. Anytime we see good compromised we need to be vigilant and put a stop to it. Even if it is just a “little sin” it is still a deprivation of good and an offense against God.
 
Many times we use the term “slippery slope” to mean that if you let a “little sin” in, it could lead to greater sin. Another term that is used is “the camel’s nose” because if a camel gets his nose in the tent, he will eventually want or get his whole body in the tent. When we tolerate a “little sin” we are more likely to tolerate more sin in our life.

There are a few analogies that can help us to understand how sin creeps up on us and on society in general.

Frog boiling in water – “If you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will of course frantically try to clamber out. But if you place it gently in a pot of tepid water and turn the heat on low, it will float there quite placidly. As the water gradually heats up, the frog will sink into a tranquil stupor, exactly like one of us in a hot bath, and before long, with a smile on its face, it will unresistingly allow itself to be boiled to death.”[i] Give examples of how we as a society and individuals have unresistingly allowed sin in our society.
 
It’s not as bad as… - Part of this “slippery slope” or “boiling water” mentality is that we dismiss sin, saying that it is not as bad as a graver sin. For example, movies and TV shows, which are sexual and immodest in nature are tolerated because “at least it’s not pornography”. Sexual activity is tolerated because “at least it’s not sexual intercourse”. Degrading speech and cuss words are tolerated because “at least it’s not the “F” word.” What are more examples in our own life, where we have made these compromises? There is a story of a mother who made homemade brownies for her children and her children’s friends who had come over to the house to play. Once the brownies were done and served the children loved the brownies and thanked the mother. The mother asked the children if they would like to know her secret ingredient. She then told the children that the secret ingredient was “poop” from the back yard. It was just a pinch of poop, very little, but yes it was in there. The children went crazy, trying to drink water to get the brownie taste out of their mouths. This should be our reaction toward sin, even a “little sin”. As the Catechism says we should have “repugnance toward the evil actions”. We should have disgust for a “little bit of sin” in our life as we would a “little bit of poop” in our brownies.

Rolling in the Dirt - There was once a missionary in a village that was asking for directions to get to a certain persons house for a party. Once he was told the directions to the house, the person giving him the directions asked how he would travel to the house. There were dirt roads in the village and the missionary explained that he would simply roll his body along the dirt road until he arrived at his destination. The villager explained to the missionary that this would not be a good idea because he would be dirty when he arrived and offend his host. The missionary used the opportunity to explain to the villager that just as it would not make sense to roll our body in the dirt as we travel to the host’s house, it likewise does not make sense to roll our soul in the dirt of sin as we travel to heaven, where Our Lord Himself is our host.

If we were to roll in the dirt or play in the mud, we would not appear that dirty if we were around others who also rolled in the dirt or played in the mud. For example, if children were playing football in the mud, the mud would cover almost every part of their clothes. The players would look at their clothes compared to the others and say, “I’m not that muddy” or “we are both muddy, who cares, let’s make more of a mess.” Once the game is over and the children arrived at their individual homes, the mom might exclaim, “You are not coming in this house, like that, take you clothes off and go straight to the bath.” In the atmosphere of the clean house, the child would realize how dirty he truly was. The same is true of our soul. If we are in sin, we like to hang out with others that are more sinful (more dirty) than us or at least as dirty, so that we don’t look so bad. When we hang out with holy people or at holy places we begin to see how dirty we are and that implies that we need to clean up.
 
Saint John Vianny said in regard to sin, we have two responses. We either excuse our self or accuse our self. In the Gospel Jesus says, “…and pray that you have the strength…to stand before the Son of Man.” Sacramental Confession is standing before the Son of Man, for we believe that the Priest in the confessional is in persona Christi, in the person of Christ. When we go to the Sacrament of Confession we are standing before the Son of Man, it is like a mini judgment, but at this judgment we accuse our self. After the initial greeting at Confession we can say, “Father, I accuse myself of the following…” How better can we pray to have the strength to stand before the Son of Man, than actually standing before the Son of Man in Sacramental Confession regularly? The Sacrament of Confession is the “mini-judgment” that best prepares us for our own particular judgment with Christ at the end of our life.

[i] Daniel Quinn; The Story of B