Sin is a Sickness
Seeing my 17-month-old son burning with a fever definitely breaks my heart. He wasn’t himself. His normal playful demeanor was gone. We knew right away that something was wrong, but felt so helpless. It reminded me of what happens to us when we sin. When we sin, we are no longer ourselves. Sin prevents us from becoming the people that we were created to be. Sin is a sickness and it infects us, destroying us from within.
Our son was the first to contract the fever, then as we sat in Mass, he coughed incessantly, all over me. I knew I was next. After another day or so, my wife started to show the signs. We feared that our two-month-old would catch it, but so far he hasn’t. Thank God.
What we often forget is that our sin, just like a sickness, effects not only ourselves, but those around us. As much as we try to deny it, sin is not a private affair. We are connected to other people. Our relationships with friends and family show us this. But as members of the Body of Christ, our sin effects the whole Church.
It is difficult enough trying to maintain our own personal holiness. Now to take on the holiness of the Church as a whole? It seems like an impossible task. And what makes it worse is that we are so easily desensitized to sin.
How We Become Desensitized to Sin
Over the Christmas holiday our family attended Mass at a parish down the street instead of our home parish across town where we normally minister. What we noticed and remember most about this parish, was not the holy priests, the awesome music, or the beautiful architecture. What remained in our minds was actually the dog excrement that we saw on the front steps as we walked in.
The next week we were shocked to see that it was still there. Then again a third time. I was dissapointed, first that someone would allow their dog to do their business on the front steps of a Church and also that nobody, not the parish staff or even a faithful parishioner was willing to stop and do something about it.
I admit I try to see God in everthing. In this case, even in the dog poop. What I realized was that everyone who walked through the doors of this parish over the Christmas holidays, and again for New Year’s, all saw what I saw. They probably all felt the same way I did, yet nobody did anything about it. The last time I saw it, someone had covered it up with a piece of newspaper.
This reflects a truth about how many of us who consider ourselves “good Catholics” neglect to acknowledge sin, especially our own sin, for what it really is… a deadly sickness. We see it more as something on a list of things we shouldn’t do. We don’t see it as a sickness which destroys our souls and prevents us from being who were made to be. Unfortunately, when it just becomes an item on a list, it is easier to ignore it, or give less importance to the effect it has on us. We’re willing to throw a piece of newspaper over it, to pretend its not there or not as bad as they say it is, but we’re not willing to get rid of it. We’ve got to open our eyes and become the sin-stopping, poop-scooping, saints that we were created to be.