In the traditional Mass there is a frequent and consistent mention about human frailty. In the Glory be to God on High we have; Thou that takest away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; In the Confession we acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins, and wickedness; At Communion we are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy table. Even in the final phrase of the Prayer of Consecration we hear, yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service; not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences. Is this overdoing it all? Is this too much negativity? Well those who drafted the new Prayer Book thought so, and removed many of these phrases or made them optional for use.
Of course, the truthful answer, is what we hear in the news of human frailty, corruption, and sin is real, full, relentless, and unedited sin – including the health and safety of the elderly in nursing homes for profit margins. Now we can add youth crime, with deliberate acts of violence, theft and murder - and a powerless governments not knowing what to do.
The problem is a society that increasingly rejects the Christian faith and the thought of sin as being an offence against God. This is because sin is not taken seriously, and therefore the Gospel does not touch daily life, or the claim that the evidence of Jesus’ Divine nature is based on His power to forgive sin.
I think most people do not openly and plainly deny that there is God, but they do not believe that he has any importance to their daily life. Neither does anyone seriously think that wrong actions may concern God, or that it may be offensive to Him.
Of course some would they believe in a higher power – but that has no impact upon their lives. And the problem is not just non-believing people, the problem is within the Church itself. It is sad to say some ‘modernist’* theologians and clergy would advise against confessing sin, but rather in going to psychologists and counsellors for help – that sin does not exist as there are only problems to be sorted out by professionals. This attitude makes you wonder what our Lord was doing at Calvary, and was he just mucking around at his last meal, “Drink ye all of this; for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins.” To forget this sacrificial offering of our Lord’s own life, is a turning away from the God whose face is turned towards the human race in the face of Jesus.
What are we to do? Well, we do have Lent to remind us of what we should be doing all year. After all, being a Christian can only take the path of becoming a Christian. No doubt, you will remember, my frequent mention that we have a confession in the Mass each week because of our lapses. Being a Christian means we constantly are starting again and again to be faithful and true – the alternative is just to simply turn into spiritual vegetables.
Lent is about our spiritual discipline to always to try and be faithful, and for that we a structure in our spiritual life. You have heard this before, but it can be dismissed as being trivial: READ the Bible, SAY your prayers, BE CONSISTENT AND REGULAR at Mass. Why? Sin is real, but God’s love is stronger. Christ is victorious over the reality of sin – and for our sakes.
In the Gospel for today our Lord talks about the strong man being overcome by someone who is stronger. Christ points to Himself as that stronger man, who overcomes the devil and takes away his possessions – failed humanity and set them free.
* modernist is a movement that ignores Scared Scripture and Christian Tradition as irrelevant, and use contemporary Ideas like Woke or Marxism.