"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom 5:6)
 
Fr John Kanicherry VC

Once a youngster was sharing his personal problems with me. In the end he said, "Father, I have a great desire not to sin. But I often fall . Is redemption impossible? Who will save me from sin?" The word of God gives a fitting reply to this : "Can Ethiopians change their skin or leopards their spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil" (Jer 13:23).

Man's weakness is to indulge in sin for the sake of temporary satisfaction. "Then the Lord said, 'My Spirit shall not abide in mortals forever, for they are flesh; their days shall be one hundred twenty years'"(Gen 6:3). Man runs away from the love of God through his selfishness.God loves everyone at every moment. "He makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous" (Mt 5:45). But when he becomes a slave to his weaknesses and falls into sin, he is separated from divine life. God's protection (his love) which he pours into all his children through the Holy Spirit is blocked. God speaks through the apostle in Romans 5:5, "And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us" The constant flow of God's love into us is prevented by sin. The 2nd verse of chapter 59 of Isaiah says, "...your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear".

God gave paradise to the first parents, but sin entered their hearts because of their evil desires. The Holy Spirit reveals in James 1:11, "For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away". This truth is expressed again in Romans 13:14: "Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires", and in James 4:3: "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures". When one entertains an unlawful desire, that desire becomes evil. The first parents enjoyed that which they should not have desired, with the result that sin took root in them. As regards man, the ten commandments given by God through Moses, tell him how to live. When one desires what God does not wish for him, sin is committed. Therefore, says St John, "Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness"(1 Jn 3:4).

Those who desire unlawful pleasures, relationships or financial gains commit sin. There are lawful pleasures and unlawful pleasures according to the word of God. The Holy Spirit dwells within the lawful pleasures. On the other hand, unlawful pleasures create guilt, feeling and unrest. In one who obeys God's commandments and walks along his path, the Holy Spirit, who is the love of God, dwells. "Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world" (1 Jn 2:15). God's love is the Holy Spirit,while the kingdom of God is justice, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Wherever a block is placed to this joy of the Holy Spirit, there sin abides. One who is immersed in unlawful pleasures, loses the joy of the Holy Spirit. Anxiety and guilt feeling fill the hearts of those who amass wealth through unlawful means. "For all that is in the world-the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches-comes not from the Father but from the world" (1 Jn 2:16). In these words God reveals that the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life are not of the Father. When a person loves the world he becomes a slave to these wicked desires. God has not said not to use the things of this world. We have to use them through the means permitted by God. It is the excessive love of worldly pleasures that becomes lust. Here there is no activity of the Holy Spirit. It is the desire for pleasure that leads man to love the things of this world. "But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord's flock has been taken captive"(Jer 13:17).

Sin is the rejection of divine inspirations. "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words" (Rom 8:26).

Man's inclination is to fall again and again into sinful pleasures and sinful circumstances. "The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Rom 8:21). It was to redeem human nature enslaved in sin that the Son of God became man in the form of sinful flesh and died for us. "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly" (Rom 5:6). Through him we have been delivered from sin and the consequences of sin.

St Paul, therefore, advises, "No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness" (Rom 6:13). God wishes us to be purified from sin. The reward of purification is eternal life. What would one do to attain this reward?

1. Believe that Jesus Christ saved me.

2. Believe and accept that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was to save me from sin.

3. Give up sin from my mind and my body. May the spirit of evil within me be driven away in the name of Jesus who died for me!

4. Surrender myself to the Spirit of Jesus so that the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weakness, may destroy the inclinations of the body (of sin) in us. (cf Rom 8:13-14).

Let us, who are pilgrims on this earth, receive the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, promised by Jesus and go forward focusing our minds on holiness.