Wednesday Reflection, St Leo the Great

From Contrition to Heirs in Hope of Eternal Life

Titus 3:1-7

“For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded… hateful ourselves and hating one another.”

When given the task to lead and guide a flock, like St Paul writing to Titus… whether it is faculties forming young seminarians or seminarians in ministry, this verse puts us at a crossroads. This verse is a call to contrition, a reminder, an examination of our sinfulness. We have all had our past whether honorable or shameful. We’ve all had a past, and now we are no longer foolish, disobedient, deluded or anything like that right? We’ve all been presumably converted from those ways right?

Sometimes when we examine ourselves and look at what we’ve done in the past, this can cause some wounds to emerge which can be healthy. Good healthy doses of feeling sorrow, shame, and guilt for past transgressions…. That’s a good Catholic. Is this always healthy? What do you do with that with those wounds?

In the Mass are some peculiar lines that are said, at least they were peculiar to me until someone explained it. The Deacon or Priest may say, “Lord Jesus, you are mighty God and Prince of Peace: You are the Son of God and Son of Mary: You are Word made flesh and splendor of the Father: Lord have mercy, Christ…” There is a statement of joy, a statement about the wonders of God, but then a request for mercy. What’s happening? It’s like daring to step out into nature and seeing the wonders of creation: the Grand Canyon, Niagara Falls, the Bayou in the back 40, double rainbows - all the way. And you are just struck with its beauty so much that you are moved to a sense of unworthiness, your smallness when compared to his gift: “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man”. God’s awesomeness moves us to repent.

You know, Paul’s instructions for Titus are analogous to our fearless rector to the formation faculties or for the faculties to us: Now don’t forget to “remind them to be obedient, open, not to slander, be peaceable, considerate, gracious to everyone.” And we will be reminding the faithful in the parishes the same thing. I think God was reminding me in this passage that sometimes in serving others, there may be a temptation for us to dwell on our past sins too much: “For you were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, hateful.” There may be so much zeal to protect others from falling that you beat other people over the heads with your sins and sufferings. It’s like some kind of twisted love, trying to love others with your failings. If you have ever seen a movie about military boot camp, sports team, or college fraternities you always see some sort of hazing or initiation before they are accepted. It’s a rite of passage: I’ve suffered, you will suffer, and the people after you will suffer. This pain and humiliation will make you better; and once you’re good enough we’ll accept you. Why are they so miserable that they wanted to inflict that misery on others? Work Order, Music Practice, Formation Fridays – oh yeah that’s seminary. Surely the faculties and seminarians who are so concerned with all things holy would desire for us to be holy too, right? We should be thanking them right? Have an attitude of gratitude perhaps? To make the story shorter: one might say, St Paul is warning us against this kind of behavior in his letter because he doesn’t stop writing: Yes, “For you were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, hateful.” But he continues, “But when the kindness and generous love of God our Savior appeared and through his mercy, through baptism and renewal of the Holy Spirit and not by anything we have done… we were justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.”

The kindness and generous love of God showered down on us causes us to move to contrition. “LORD, have mercy. Because of all the things you have done for me. Christ, have mercy.” Here we are transformed and we have been justified by God. He has given us a mission in this vocation. Our past can drag others into darkness: You can be stuck in that rut of taking out your past sinfulness out on others. Just remember that the penitential rite it is not for us to dwell solely on our sins, but to come to true contrition, receive his abundant love and forgiveness, and be joyful because he is merciful. His kindness and generous love has brought us salvation and now we have great cause for joy because we have become “heirs in hope of eternal life.”

St Leo the Great leaves us with these words: “Sharing in this office [of the priesthood], my dear brethren, we have solid ground for a common rejoicing; yet there will be more genuine and excellent reason for joy if you do not dwell on the thought of our unworthiness.