Small Catholic

The thing that struck me in hearing the very familiar Gospel this morning (John 3: 16-21) was this line:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.”

The thing that hit me was that if God didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, it’s definitely not our job to condemn the world. And isn’t that a lie that the devil loves to tell Christians? That what a good Christian does is identify what’s bad in the world and make sure that everyone knows about it? This can even develop into a very dangerous sense of “bad people” vs. “good people” in which the one doing the judging falls into the “good people” category and loses the concept of battling temptation and striving for virtue in my own heart.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church wisely talks about the continuing need for conversion for all of us:

1428: Christ’s call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church who, “clasping sinners to her bosom, [is] at once holy and always in need of purification, [and] follows constantly the path of penance and renewal.” This endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a “contrite heart,” drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first.

1429: St. Peter’s conversion after he had denied his master three times bears witness to this. Jesus’ look of infinite mercy drew tears of repentance from Peter and, after the Lord’s resurrection, a threefold affirmation of love for him. The second conversion also has a communitarian dimension, as is clear in the Lord’s call to a whole Church: “Repent!”

St. Ambrose says of the two conversions that, in the Church, “there are water and tears: the water of Baptism and the tears of repentance.”

It also reminds me of a quote from St. John Paul the Great that I have on my “quote stand” right now: