Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz
and this is Ascension Presents. So,
a lot of people will ask me,
"Like, Father, what is a sin?
What makes something a sin?"
Because you could say, it didn't hurt anybody.
It didn't seem like anyone
was even affected by
some sins at all.
That's a great question. So,
here's the thing. I think a lot of times we think
of, like good and evil as like, battling it out, like, here's good and here's evil
and they're just fighting it out.
And that sometimes is how we experience it. But,
back in the day, St. Augustine—the fourth, 5th century—he said—
he figured this kind of thing out. He discerned this
and he said that, you know, evil in and of itself isn't a thing.
It's either the absence of a thing or the distortion of a thing, right?
So, the only thing that exists is a good.
Goodness, truth, beauty. Those are things that exist.
Evil is always going to be an absence of a good or it's the distortion.
The willed, intentional distortion of a good.
So, as an example, blindness isn't a thing on its own.
You have sight, which is a good.
Blindness is merely the absence of that good.
Or you have the distortion of a good.
So, for example, communication.
Being able to speak with another person.
You can have the absence of that, and you can have this isolation—which would not be a good.
But you could also distort language. You could distort communication
in such a way that it would be telling a lie.
Or it would be manipulating someone else,
and that would be the misuse of a good.
So, you see that, evil on its own isn't a thing.
It's always the absence or it's the intentional misuse or distortion of a good thing.
That's why it feels good to sin.
In fact, you know it's kind of funny, the only sin that doesn't have any kind of feeling,
good feelings about it is envy.
Like every other sin actually, you get a little kick out of it. You get a little reward out of it.
But the one that you don't get a kick out of, the one you don't get a reward out of is envy.
It doesn't make anyone feel good, ever.
But we still do it. That's a whole side point, but I thought I'd mention it.
We realize, we don't just look around this natural world and see what's good and then figure it out ourselves.
We also have this thing called revelation
where God reveals to us not just here's what's good and here's what's bad.
Even deeper.
God reveals his will.
God reveals his heart.
God is goodness.
He's truth, he's beauty, he is mercy,
He's justice, he is love.
So, of course, whenever we have an absence of those things
or intentionally violate those things, intentionally misuse those things,
we are sinning.
But the most powerful thing is this.
When God reveals his will, when he reveals his heart.
Then, all of a sudden, sin ceases to be about breaking a rule.
It ceases to be about violating some kind of commandment.
And all of a sudden it becomes immensely personal.
We've all had the occasion where we've accidentally hurt a friend of ours.
Or, a friend of ours has accidentally hurt us.
Now, there was a real hurt there.
But, if we understand that it was merely an accident, then we're hurt, but the relationship is still intact.
The same principle applies to God.
I could accidentally violate a rule. I could accidentally violate a commandment.
But, when God reveals, OK, this is my will,
if I know it's his will and I intentionally choose to do what I want to do anyways,
then I'm not just breaking a law.
I'm not just breaking a commandment.
I'm breaking the relationship.
Because, ultimately what sin is is saying,
"God, I know what you want.
I don't care.
I want what I want."
At the end of the day, that is exactly what sin is.
It's not an accident. It's not a mistake. It's not just breaking a rule.
It's, "God, I know what you want.
I don't care.
I want what I want."
Or, it's even this, "God, I know what you want and I care about that a lot.
But, you know what I care about more?
I want what I want."
That's why the opposite of sin, repentance, undoes that.
Repentance isn't just saying, "Oh, I'm sorry." Or, "Gosh, you know, I feel really bad."
It's not. It's not even feeling bad. Repentance isn't the same thing as regret.
Because Judas, he regretted what he had done. Peter regretted what he had done, too.
Only one of them repented.
Because repentance is, "God, I know what you want me to do. I know what I have chosen.
(sigh)
OK, I choose your will now.
Now I choose your will. I know what I want,
but now I will—
I choose what you want."
You know, when we say that,
when we repent, we turn away from our own will and say okay, yes, to the Father's will,
that makes room for God's forgiveness to actually change us.
He always wants to forgive us.
But when we say, "OK God, not my will but yours be done,"
that allows that forgiveness that he's always offering to us to finally meet our hearts.
You know God's will is to forgive you. Did you know that,
that God's will is to give you mercy, God's will is to love you?
God's will is to set you free from your sins.
As long as I say, "No, no, no, my will, not yours, be done,"
I'm not letting him forgive me.
To experience that forgiveness
where he says, OK, I set you free from your debt,
to go to confession and simply let him give you the mercy
that he already wants to give you because that's what you're saying when you go to confession,
you're saying, "God, I know what you want.
You want to give me mercy.
You have my permission to give me mercy."
And to let that relationship begin to be restored.
Because this is the last thing.
When you forgive someone, it doesn't automatically restore the relationship.
What you have to do is, you have to walk forward with them
if you want to restore the relationship.
I can say I forgive you from your debt, but I don't want to have a relationship with you anymore.
God can say, "I forgive you,"
but if we're going to have a relationship with him, that means,
OK, I got to walk forward with him
as a forgiven son or daughter of God the Father.
And walk forward, race forward into life
with God at your side.
From all of us here at Ascension Presents,
my name is Father Mike. God bless.