repent, and sin no more

With the significance of the Easter weekend and preparing a gigantic meal weighing on my mind, I sat down to have breakfast with my parents this morning and was greeted with 2 pretty heavy questions. First “are you going to church today, tomorrow or both” and second “when was the last time you went to confession?” That’s a lot to take in when you haven’t had any coffee in 39 days, or even gotten out of your pj’s yet. Our (lack of) attendance at church has been something that my mother has taken up as her cross to bear – she thinks she has done something wrong or let us down by not making it a priority in our lives. But what got me more was the question of reconciliation. From the start I have never liked the idea of confessing my wrong doings to a relative stranger hidden behind a mesh screen. In fact, I would often feel guiltier afterwards for not confessing all my sins (who wants to tell a priest all their dirty little secrets anyway?) Plus I never really understood how 3 Hail Mary’s and an Our Father would wipe the slate clean. It sort of seemed like if I would be granted forgiveness anyway, what did it matter if I lied to my parents or was mean to my brother? I would still get into Heaven as long as I apologized. So as I am trying to avoid their interrogation and eat my cereal in peace, I start flipping through the TIME magazine on the table and I come across this article on the Vatican’s reflection on mortal sins for the modern age. God works in mysterious ways.

Personally, I think it's a great idea for the Vatican to have a bit of a paradigm shift and update the way they/we think about The 7 Deadly Sins. (The original 7 were established in the 1600s, and I have a feeling that most kids today think Sloth is a character in "The Goonies" or a slow moving mammal with 3 toes.) It's not to say that we should dismiss things like anger or envy or gluttony as being inherently wrong, but maybe as my mother always says "everything in moderation". Traits such as greed, pride, or sloth are important to a certain extent. Wanting to have more drives us to attain it. Taking pride in what we do leads us to do a job well. Knowing when to relax is essential to a healthy well balanced life. We just need to use our good judgement and common sense to determine when we cross that line and stand in excess. But what happens when your moral compass is not pointing north?

There are people who, when left to their own devices, often take advantage and bend the rules to the point of breaking them. CEOs of big corporations who exploit lax labour laws so they can pump out mass quantities of sneakers and hoodies for a huge retail profit – are they kept awake at night by a guilty conscience worrying about internal damnation? In some cases the checks and balances in place to keep us on track aren’t necessarily the best. If it’s cheaper to pay the fine for dumping toxins in the water than it is to change your process so you produce fewer toxins, that is not much of a deterrent to keep one from polluting. Sadly, it doesn’t seem as though the wrath of God is enough to knock some sense into society anymore.

What hit me the most was the idea that “where the standard sins are individual failings, in a global culture sin is social”. Consequences are not just felt by those responsible; the trickle down hurts us all. It is not fair that one person’s actions (or lack thereof) can cause harm to someone else who has no control or say in the matter. The challenge is identifying who or what is the root of the evil in question, and then determining the appropriate course or action or punishment. Not always an easy task when morals and values and religion are at the heart of the situation.

Changing the idea of what is a sin so that it hits closer to home was a smart more on the Vatican's part, but in the end, will it make a difference? Is there any need for us to revert back to the God-fearing Catholics that we once were? Can we as a society change our way, or will we keep justifying our actions away like we always have? Give the article a read and tell me what you think. p.s. we’ve been preparing the lamb and chicken all afternoon and my kitchen smells like mint, fennel, lemon, garlic, olive oil….