Complacency in the Age of Mercy

I see a lot of complacency in the Catholic world, in this "Age of Divine Mercy." I'm not slamming Divine Mercy...it helped bring me home! And I'm a HUGE fan of God's mercy! EVERY DAY!

Yet for a few years now, I've been noticing a tendency even among the most devout to sort of simply the ideas and almost "excuse" themselves or others with the adage..."We have to trust in God's mercy."

Yes, we do. But we also need to talk about OUR obligations, and we need to discuss the real theology behind what we believe. We are obligated, as Catholics, to know our faith, and even to evangelize! But what message does it send when we can't be bothered to care about the fact that Baptism is NECESSARY for salvation?

FACT: Those baptized invalidly ARE NOT BAPTIZED. Thus, in order to correct the situation, they are notn "conditionally" baptized, but, in fact, they must be BAPTIZED for the first time! Simply "trusting in God's mercy" doesn't correct an invalid baptism. The idea of "baptism of desire" applies to an extraordinary situation. It would apply, if, say, you are en route in desperation to the church to request baptism and a large mosquito picks you up and feeds you to a nest of velociraptors in the swamp behind your house. You'd have the proper disposition and desperation and intention. God can work with that. But you can't go through life and excuse the lack of baptism by saying, "Well..they MEANT well...I'll just trust in God and evetually get around to being baptized again."

In my previous post on this issue, while sitting in class on Sunday I took what I was learning and made it "personal", asking the "what if" question. This solidified everything for me, for it's easy to take an abstract idea and just learn it. But to make it personal and applicable to me, or someone I love? NOW it's a big deal! And I nearly wept right there in class at the very idea of having an invalid baptism. I may have spoken with some hyperbole in order to make my point, but I had a more important point, one applicable to EVERYONE!

LOSING YOUR BAPTISM

Are you aware that, when you committ mortal sin, you completely sever your relationship with God? It's not God that severs anything; He is immutable, unchanging, and basically unaffected. It is WE who change, and in fact, we erase our Baptisms completely!

THIS was really the main point of that post; the reality that we may sometimes CHOOSE to deny our Baptism and sever ourselves from a relationship with God. And it's in the Catechism, folks. Pick it up and read it and let it change your life!

So, in a state of mortal sin, if we recognize we've done such a thing, why aren't we all FLOCKING to Confession, calling up the priest and in desperation asking to be restored? We can certainly have a "perfect act of contrition" but with that we must also have the intention of getting to sacramental Confession as soon as we are able. So what's the problem? Why aren't we desperate?

Simple; because we don't understand the teachings, we don't understand what we've lost, and even some of the most educated Catholics have been drawn into complacency with regard to the true effects of sin. (And yes, even the most devout Catholics may sometimes commit mortal sin, but that's not the point of this post).

We cannot just pooh-pooh sin and losing our Baptism with the adage, "God will understand" or "We have to trust in God's mercy". YES! That's true, we DO, however, we have to take responsiblity and realize where we are wrong and get our butts into the Confessional where God can directly enact His mercy upon us! To do otherwise is to be Protestant! We are not saved by faith alone!

I realize most of my readers probably "get" this concept and I'm probably preaching to the choir. But you've all lamented the short confessional lines. That's good for you when you need to go...bad for the implicantions of everyone who isn't there...and should be!

In a state of grave sin, we lose our Baptism; but in a moment of contrition, there in Confession...we are restored according to our dispositions. Isn't this glorious?

We have to be educated in order to help others understand; because we have to face the fact that most Catholics in this day and age have NO IDEA what the teachings are. They are caught up in secularism and relativism. Yes, teach them about God's mercy and really focus on that...but don't let them wallow around thinking that all they have to do is trust...and continue in their sin. People need to be restored to a relationship with God, and YOU are the one God is sending to reach out to those people and (gently) provide them with the information they need to increase their desperation for God.

Don't be complacent and don't let someone else's complacency keep you from understanding that the Sacraments are a HUGE DEAL, and we SHOULD be excited about them, and we SHOULD have the desperation of the woman with the hemorrhage of the gospels EACH time we receive a Sacrament!

Trust in God's mercy, certainly...but His Mercy still requires us to have a particular disposition in order to receive it!

I can't say this strongly enough; if you aren't excited about the Sacraments, if you aren't receiving them in a state of pure desperation out of love for God...then you simply have no idea what's going on!

*
** (yes, I'm speaking in hyperbole again...but only slightly!) ***