Thanks for being here. We grow together.
Before the pandemic began, I had the opportunity to coordinate confirmation classes at a parish in Los Angeles.
The program received adolescents whose parents practically forced them to attend. There were exceptions when there were some young people interested from the beginning of the program.
More than half of the adolescents’ families were fragmented, that is, children of single parents, or of blended families. Another percentage of families had an addiction problem in one of their members. And many others had relatives in jail, or homeless, lost due to some addiction. In other words, the adolescents were considered at risk.
These teenagers had experienced a lot of difficulty in their young lives. And many of them were in alternative schools, having exhausted opportunities in “regular” schools.
On one occasion, we touched on the topic of sin and salvation. (it was a few years ago since this experience, so the “official” topic may have changed) I decided to split class time in half, and focus on each area by offering activities and resources accessible to their reality.
I divided them into small groups and gave them questions for them to answer according to what they understood. From there we would go to the activities and book definitions.
One of the questions that caused the most uproar among them was, “Is temptation a sin?”
I would never have anticipated the commotion of the discussion, nor the level of participation. Even the young girls who hardly ever spoke had something energetic to say.
As a community of faith, we are beginning a time of repentance and conversion. For a long time, I personally associated this time with assuming that everything I did or didn’t do, thought or didn’t think, was bad. In this sense, my perception of temptation was not at all different from that of the young people in the confirmation group whom I now coordinated.
But if falling into temptation is “being down,” the alternative is to get up.
And getting up is precisely the way in which we can perceive not being on the ground, and not “making firewood from the fallen tree.”
I have found great wisdom in popular Mexican sayings. This conversation reminds me of the following:
In the sin you are carrying your penance.
One of the ideas behind this saying comes from the rumor of when someone confessed to an elderly priest, and he gives a long and intense, heavy, penance. Another way of looking at it is that the guilt that sin contains is heavy.
The Lord’s Prayer reminds us, “lead us not into temptation.”
That group of adolescents, surrounded by very difficult situations, found great relief in discovering that temptation in itself is not a sin. I don’t know how many times they may have understood “that they are bad,” enough for them to feel supported and affirmed by hearing this news. They may not have “committed” the sin, but they did carry the guilt.
If you have been a person who is compulsively consumed by guilt, for what you did or didn’t do, thought or didn’t think, I invite you to together remember the following:
In the book of Genesis, before original sin, there is the original goodness, because after God finished the creation of each day, he saw that “it was good.”
You are a good person. Allow yourself to be loved.
A long time ago I was told that repentance, in some way, also means changing the way you think.
How can you and I repent, change our ways of thinking to grow in love?
By not changing, there is a great risk of internalizing “doing wrong” into guilt or shame.
The unhealthy expression of guilt leads us to blaming ourselves or others. The unhealthy expression of shame leads us to hide ourselves or our actions.
The healthy expression of guilt leads us to want to repair the wrong doing. The healthy expression of shame leads us to express ourselves with openness and vulnerability in the appropriate context.
Observe your tendencies honestly and without judgment. Only you know what is in your heart, the possible regrets, and their depth.
I invite you to remember in your personal prayer that God sees your goodness before anything else.
Is there something you need to change in your way of thinking so that you too see your goodness?
There are tools that Jesus the carpenter offers you for this. Some examples are: reflection, retreating, examining your life and/or actions, contemplative prayer, spiritual direction/accompaniment. And there are more options.
The invitation is for you to choose the right tool for you, so that you can rediscover your original goodness. And that will support you in changing the way you think about yourself, and consequently, the way you think about others.
God sees your goodness, do you?
Let’s work together to see our image as God sees it.
Marisol
P.S. To remember what it was what Jesus did to not fall into temptation, please refer to the readings off the Sunday of Lent, cycle B.
