Devotion for today: Come back to me with all your hearts

I think it is interesting that so many misinformed people today love to mock the concept of sin as “good old fashioned Catholic guilt.” Although this language may get a laugh or two from an audience, it has nothing to do with reality. The Catholic Church did not create the concept of sin so it could hold people captive in fear and quaking, as I read in one article.  It is not for the purpose of perpetrating a lie that unless you feel horrible about yourself because of your wretchedness, you will never get to heaven. Nor did Jesus create the Sacrament of Reconciliation to introduce a new concept to the people of His time. We must always remember that Jesus was Jewish. He preached to Jewish people. He came as the Messiah the Jewish people longed for. His teachings were based on the teachings that all good Jews knew by heart, and the Old Testament is filled with the concept of sin and the need to turn away from it and come back to God. God has always wanted His people, all people, to acknowledge that sin exists, and that it keeps us from experiencing the fullness of His love. Let’s take a few minutes to look at just a few Old Testament verses where God, through his prophets and holy men and women, asks His people to “Come back with all your hearts.” As we continue our study of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, let us take time to get rid of pride which says there is no sin, and adopt an open and humble heart so that God can speak to us through His words, and heal us of our transgressions.

Matthew 5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

In the Old Testament sin is set forth as an act of disobedience (Genesis 2:16-17;3:11; Isaiah 1:2-4; Jeremiah 2:32); as an insult to God (Numbers 27:14); as something detested and punished by God (Genesis 3:14-19; Genesis 4:9-16); as injurious to the sinner (Tobit 12:10); to be expiated by penance (Psalm 1:19) http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14004b.htm

Joel 2:12: "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."

Deuteronomy 4:29: But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Jeremiah 4:1: "If you, Israel, will return, then return to me," declares the LORD. "If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?

Daniel 9:3: So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Hosea 12:6:  But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.

Prayer: Psalm 51:3-6, 12, 16, 19: “Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness; in your abundant compassion blot out my offence. Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me. For I know my offense; against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight that you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn…A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit….Rescue me from death, God, my saving God, that my tongue may praise your healing power…My sacrifice, God, is a broken spirit; God, do not spurn a broken, humbled heart”.