An excerpt from “Guilt” by Caryll Houselander:
Adam was the first sinful man, and he tried to repudiate guilt; Christ was the first sinless man, and He accepted the guilt of all sin. Adam was the first man to hide from God; Christ was the first man to expose His soul, covered in the wounds and ugliness inflicted by guilt, to the fierce blaze of God’s light….
“When He had gone a little further, He fell upon His face in prayer, and said, My Father, if it is possible, let this chalice pass Me by; only as Thy Will is, not as Mine is” (Matthew 26:39).
As He prayed, in agony of mind, Christ experienced in Himself the struggle of our whole race—with the accumulation of guilt from which nearly every individual, except the saint, tries to escape, and for which nearly everyone repudiates all personal responsibility. There was no escape for Christ. For the last time, His human will surrendered to the Will of God, and the man, Who had a few moments before been lying on His face on the ground, oppressed by all the fear and dread and depression of all mankind, was comforted by an angel and rose up, self-possessed, majestic, to go out to the consummation of love.
Very aptly, that night, Christ was crowned with thorns. Soon, He was stripped of His garments. Adam had covered himself and hidden [in the Garden of Eden]. [On Calvary,] Christ was exposed to the crowd and lifted up naked before those who ridiculed Him and those He loved. And there, on the Cross, in that tremendous surrender of self, Love was consummated.
An excerpt from “Life Is Worth Living” by Venerable Fulton J. Sheen:
When man’s will rebels against God’s Will, man created a tragic situation, which in the person is a sense of guilt and in the community of nations, a crisis. Our tragedy today is due basically to the human will opposing the Divine Will.
The next point is: Guilt needs reparation. There is a great difference between sorrow for the wrong we did and making reparation for it. Suppose that during one of these telecasts, when my little angel came out to clean my blackboard, I stole his halo. I am sure that when my little angel took himself back into the wings, if I said, “I am awfully sorry, little angel; will you forgive me?” the angel would answer, “Sure I forgive you!” But he would say, “Give me back my halo.” The return of the halo would be the proof that I was sorry for the theft.
Suppose every time we did wrong we were told to drive a nail in a board; and every time we were forgiven we were told to pull a nail out. The board would be full of holes. These holes are the record of how our wrong deeds disturb the order of justice. Many think that all they have to do when they do wrong individually or socially is merely to ask to be forgiven. They must also make reparation for the wrong. The equilibrium and the balance of justice have been disturbed, and that balance must be restored by penance….
A nation may do wrong; if so, it must make up for it by some kind of penance and atonement and reparation. We can do wrong as a nation; we are not all innocent lambs. While it may be true that other nations have done far greater wrong, the way to peace is not to point out their villainy. Rather it is humbly to admit our failures and make expiation for them. The world is the way it is because you are the way you are and I am the way I am.
It is not sufficient that we as individuals make up for our own individual failings. We are also citizens of a great republic, and we have to make the expiation as a republic. This will involve some prayers and penances on our part. It will also mean seeing that as long as human groups do not make sacrifices for peace, they will continue to settle their difficulties by war. War, to egotists who deny they ever do wrong, seems a smaller calamity than the renunciation of their egotism and selfishness.
“Dear children! Out of love towards you, God has sent me among you, to love you and encourage you to prayer and conversion, for peace in you and in your families and in the world. Little children, do not forget that true peace comes only through prayer, from God Who is your peace. Thank you for having responded to my call.” -Our Lady of Medjugorje, in private revelation given to Marija Pavlovic-Lunetti, on September 24, 2024
An excerpt from “The Mercy of God and the Joy Repentance Brings” by Sister Ann Shields:
Come! Take up your cross, and cry out to God daily in prayer for His mercy. Don’t ever be afraid to admit the hold sin has on you. The Enemy wants you to keep your sin hidden away in darkness. When we do that, however, Satan has more room to plant his lies in us; he will always try to convince us either that we don’t need to be forgiven, or that we can’t be forgiven. Ignore those lies. Even if your unconfessed sin is decades old. God never tires of forgiving those who come to Him!
Confessing our sins and accepting God’s mercy gives us rest—rest from anger, hopelessness, and fear that often has its origin in shame. That shame keeps us from admitting our sin, and from throwing off the weight of festering past sin. God wants to see His sons and daughter free! He wants to give us rest.
In the Book of Matthew, the Lord says, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavily burdened and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28) God wants us to walk in the light of peace and hope.
