I graduated from Our Lady of Mt. Carmel grammar school in 1972. There were 48 of us in our graduating class. One class. One teacher. And many wonder why nuns used rulers to keep order. 48 to 1 student to teacher ratio! I am surprised she didn’t need a howitzer to get us to behave. But we survived and most of us thrived. I was always considered to be one of the better behaved among my classmates. I think mostly because I knew the repercussions of what would happen at home if I acted up and it was reported to my parents. But I was by no means perfect. Like most people, I wanted to belong. Be part of the group. And in my class that sometimes meant poking fun at others. Cut them down. Make the class laugh.
I recall very clearly writing a note about one of the girls in our class. Let’s just say that it was not flattering. I then passed the note around the class for all to read. I do have to admit that the note got some laughs. But that also meant that it got the attention of Sister Mary Rose. Now Sister Mary Rose was not someone to mess with. To say she had the physique of a National Hockey League enforcer would be to put it mildly. She had a way of glaring at you that made you want to admit to kidnapping the Lindberg baby. So, she get’s ahold of my note and makes the class stand up right at the end of the day, before heading home. She threatens to keep everyone in the school until the person who wrote the note admits it was them. Of course, everyone knew it was ME! And they all glanced my way. The combination of that, and Sister Mary Rose’s famous glare, did me in. Within about 60 seconds I admitted it to her. She let the entire class leave…except for one…me. I don’t recall the specific punishment, but I know there was one. I also know that this story, and the guilt attached, has remained with me for 53 years. These were certainly adverse consequences for me as a result of the choices I made. And what about the consequences for the girl who was the subject of my early literary feat? What about her reputation and self-esteem? I am fairly sure I confessed this behavior when we all next went to Reconciliation as a class. And yes God forgave me for what I did. As he has many, many times since, for countless other missteps in my life. But God’s forgiveness does not blot out the consequences of our sins. What the catechism calls the temporal effects of our sins.
Probably the most famous Biblical example of this, is the story of King David and his affair with Bathsheba and his having Uriah (Bathsheba’s husband and the first part of the name of a rock group from the 60s…Uriah Heap) sent to the front lines to be killed. But the consequences of David’s sins, in spite of his repentance to God through Nathan the prophet, carried on for generations. A Reddit post outlined those effects:
- His first son with Bethsheba died
- His son, Amnon, raped his daughter Tamer.
- Absalom killed Amnon for raping Tamar.
- Absalom, through the counsel of Ahithophel, led a rebellion against David
- Adonijah finally seizes the kingship, and tried to seize the kingship from Solomon.
- Solomon had Adonijah executed.
Our first reading today is from the prophet Baruch, who was an assistant to the prophet Jeremiah while residing in Babylon during the exile of the Israelites from Judah. He speaks to the captives as though the city of Jerusalem were a Mother lamenting her children.
“God has brought great mourning upon me,
For I have seen the captivity
that the Eternal God has brought
upon my sons and daughters.”
She cries over the loss of her children to captivity in Babylon as a result of their sins before God:
“For you provoked your Maker
with sacrifices to demons, to no-gods;
You forsook the Eternal God who nourished you,“
But there is hope. Baruch, through the voice of Jerusalem, the Mother, declares:
“Fear not, my children; call out to God!
He who brought this upon you will remember you.
As your hearts have been disposed to stray from God,
turn now ten times the more to seek him;
For he who has brought disaster upon you
will, in saving you, bring you back enduring joy.”
The sins of the Israelites, the worshiping and sacrificing to idols and turning away from God, had consequences. 70 years under the thumb of the Babylonians and Persians. But God calls them back. He asks them to return to Him. Jews around the world have just finished observing the Days of Awe, which began with the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, and ending with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. It is a 10 day period in which Jews take an assessment of the past year. Recall where they have fallen short of what God calls them to do and then pledge to do better. To turn to God once again. The term in Hebrew is “Hashivenu“. To turn or to be renewed. In Greek it is “Metanoia”. To repent. But more than repenting, it is to return to right relationship with God. It does not mean that there are no consequences for our actions. But it does mean that we return to being aligned with God’s plan for us.
We do not sin in isolation. As the body of Christ, our sins have repercussions throughout the body. As I and my classmate found out back in 8th grade. But we do not have to stay immersed in our sin and pay those consequences for eternity. God calls us back. Christ died for our past and future missteps and all we need to do is to call on Him, live with Him and die to our sins with Him. I am guessing that Sister Mary Rose is up there now, knowing that her calling me to task all those years ago helped me write this reflection. Of course, that would also mean that she heard my description of her imposing physique. Oh well. What time is confession this afternoon?
