Truth and consequences.
All that good people despise.
An intro to this mornings psalm in Magnificat for Wednesday of Holy Week reads: “Judas personifies all that good people most despise: dishonesty, venality, treachery. For humanity at our most despicable, the Lord Jesus willingly suffered the plots of the enemies who banded together to seek his life.”
“All that good people most despise…” Today people call “good people” bigots if they do not approve of certain sins - they are mocked as ignorant religious fanatics. Yet there are certain sins that cry to heaven for vengeance - and people are rightly scandalized by them.
Prodigals aren’t always celebrated.
On the other hand, there are former sinners, though they have repented and renounced their sinful life, claim they continue to experience a sort of marginalization in the Christian community. Sometimes, these prodigals experience the joy of forgiveness to such an extent, they expect others to celebrate their conversion as well. We are told the angels rejoice in heaven over one sinner who repents, and so should the Church.
Yet many times, the good, not unlike the prodigal son’s elder brother, despise certain sins so greatly, they have trouble with those who have returned from a life of sin. That is not to say they do not rejoice over their conversion, or praise the mercy of God, but they sometimes tend to keep the penitent at arms length.
The consequences of sin.
We need to understand that sin, albeit forgiven and washed away by the blood of Christ, continues to have consequence. If I committed a serious crime, even though I repented of it and was reconciled to the Church through the sacrament of penance, I would still be punished and probably sent to prison. My reputation tarnished.
I’m not saying a repentant sinner must wear a scarlet letter for the rest of his life, but one shouldn’t be surprised if another person or group, though welcoming and polite, are unable to engage in a familiar relationship with the penitent. I also think, the penitent experiencing a sense of marginalization, would do well to offer this trial as further penance for his sins and the conversion of other sinners.
Penance.
Many saints who had been sinners certainly suffered similarly. For instance, St Margaret of Cortona, endured the suspicion of town folk on and off for the remainder of her life. Immediately after her conversion, she sought entrance into the third order of St. Francis, yet the friars tested her repentance for two or three years before permitting her to enter.
Prior to her conversion, Margaret more or less flaunted her scandalous lifestyle and became something of a local celebrity. Her conversion, though edifying to contemporaries, was not the occasion of greater prestige for her - perhaps just the opposite. At any rate, those of us who have been notorious sinners, ought to take heart when we feel marginalized or left out; we can offer it up as part of our penance.
