“So he was left alone with the woman before him”
It is love Himself, Jesus Christ that gives us: redemption, reparation, atonement, and satisfaction.
This lesson is the second part of a discussion on redemption, reparation, atonement, and satisfaction with the primary of the lesson being on atonement and satisfaction
What is Atonement? Atonement is from the Middle English, which means at one, or to be at one, or to be of one mind. Atonement is “the satisfaction of a legitimate demand. In a more restricted sense it is the reparation of an offense. This occurs through a voluntary performance that outweighs the injustice done. If the performance fully counterbalances the gravity of the guilt, the atonement is adequate. And if the atonement is done by someone other than the actual offender, but in his stead, it is vicarious. Applied to Christ the Redeemer, through this suffering and death he rendered vicarious atonement to God for the sins of the whole human race. His atonement is fully adequate because it was performed by a divine person. In fact, it is superabundant because the positive value of Christ’s expiation is actually greater than the negative value of human sin.”[i]
We are familiar with the scales of justice. On one side of the scale there is the lack of love, the sin of humanity, on the other side of the scale there is absolute love, the grace of divinity. Divinity outweighs humanity, the atonement is more than adequate. In the case of atonement no human can balance the scale, the scale can only be balanced by the God-man, Jesus Christ, who is both human and divine.
Saint Maximilian Kolbe is an example of atonement. St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Priest that was sentenced to the concentration camp (Hitler killed 1 million Polish Catholic, mostly priests and religious). A prisoner tried to escape from St. Maximilian’s prison block but was caught. To punish the person, the Nazis chose to send 10 prisoners from that block to the starvation cell, all 10 in the same cell. The Nazi guards called the men by their number, and they each stood up. One man, when he was called began to cry and begged that he not be killed. He said that he had a wife and children. St. Maximilian, moved with compassion, stood up quietly and then said, “I will take that man’s place.” The guard said to him, “Who are you?” Kolbe replied, “I am a Catholic Priest.” St. Maximilian Kolbe showed the perfect example of Christ on the Cross; there is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend.
VIDEO – St. Maximilian Kolbe
A biography on Saint Maximilian Kolbe
How do we see atonement in the story of the woman caught in adultery? There are two phrases that we can meditate on to answer this question, one, “they went away one by one” and two, “So he was left alone with the woman before him”. It is not the Pharisees, or the elders, or even the Law of Moses that can atone for this woman’s sin. None of these can balance the scales and so “they went away one by one”. Humanity alone, no matter how good or righteous cannot save itself, and so each sinner goes away one by one. Some say that Christ wrote each man’s sin in the sand and thus each man recognizing his sin went away understanding that he could not condemn the woman who was also in sin. Only Jesus was left because Jesus alone was without sin and therefore Jesus was left alone with the woman before him.
In the confessional we are left alone with the priest who is in persona Christi, in the person of Christ. When we go to confession we are one on one with Jesus. At Holy Communion, we are left alone with Christ. Scripture is full of examples in which people like the Woman at the Well, the Blind Man, Nicodemus, St. Peter, St. Paul, etc. are left alone with Christ. It is this encounter of Christ one on one that enables us to be a witness for Christ in the community. The Christian often finds himself left alone with Christ through prayer and through the Sacraments. In the midst of suffering, when many leave our side, the Christian finds himself left alone with Christ, much like the good theft who was left alone with Christ on the Cross. It is Christ, who thirst for each soul, that desires each soul to be left alone with Him and this is why “He is himself the shepherd, the high priest, the way and the door, and has become all things at once for us.”[ii]
VIDEO – Palm Sunday
Next Sunday (This lesson is written for the 4th Sunday of Lent) is Palm Sunday. In this video a boy encounters Christ in a powerful way. He is around his brother, and yet when coming face to face with Jesus, the boy is left alone. He begins to atone for his sins. The video also ties in the previous lesson (Redemption and Reparation).
The word atonement means that we are at one, one with Christ, and in Christ we are at one with each other. We profess in the Creed that we believe in one, holy, catholic, apostolic Church. Within the Body of Christ the Church we are one because of atonement. All are sinners and is evident of the Pharisees walking away one by one. Although all are sinners, sinners have the choice of being penitent. The penitent, aware of his sin and God’s grace, receives and embraces atonement and thus is at one with Christ and His Church. The unrepentant is at odds with Christ and His Church, and thus not being at one with Christ, cannot receive Holy Communion.
The woman caught in adultery is a witness of the penitent, the one who has received and embraced atonement and thus is at one with Christ. Although we are at one with Christ, we have the tendency to sin, concupiscence, and thus we remain penitents. As penitents we can always pray, “Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me a sinner.” We acknowledge that we are sinners. We acknowledge that we are in need of mercy, a trait of the poor in spirit. We acknowledge are need to be at one with Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. In the Chaplet of Divine Mercy we pray, “Eternal Father I offer you the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Your dearly beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ in atonement for our sins and those of the whole world.”
What is Satisfaction? Satisfaction comes from the Latin satisfacere. Satis means sufficient, enough and facere means to do or make. “Satisfaction is the expiation of wrongdoing, especially the penance imposed by a priest before giving sacramental absolution. Essentially the satisfaction consists in the penitent’s willingness to accept the penance imposed and its actual fulfillment. The effect of these two elements is to remove more or less the temporal punishment due to the sins confessed. In the early Church, up to the Middle Ages, the penance imposed was generally severe. Later on the severity was mitigated through what has since come to be known as indulgences.” Penance which consists of good works, prayer, and sacrifice is never done alone. The penitent is united to Christ in that we become co-workers with Christ when we do good, we pray with Christ when they pray, and we unite our sacrifice to the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross when we suffer and sacrifice.
Search: Indulgences
What is our response to this great gift of love that Jesus gives us? What is our response to redemption, reparation, atonement, and satisfaction? We have so much to be thankful for. Our freedom has been purchased by the Blood of Christ, a price we cannot pay. We can be forgiven. Christ offers us the grace to restore us. We can be restored. Christ gives us the grace necessary to be at one with Him and with others through Him. We can be at union with Christ and others. Finally His grace is sufficient enough to remove the temporal punishment or damage due to our sins. We should respond to each of these gifts. We respond to the gift of forgiveness by going to Confession and by examining or conscience daily and making an Act of Contrition. We respond to restoration, by allowing God to make us holy by the many graces He offers us. We remain at one with Christ, most especially the Sacraments and through prayer. We enter into the work, prayer, and sacrifice of Christ, thus living a life of penance.
[i] Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.; Modern Catholic Dictionary
[ii] From an Easter letter by Saint Athanasius