The liturgical preparation for the greatest feast of Christianity, which is Easter, proceeds in five periods which have a penitential character. Fr. Weiser, in his Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs speaks of this preparation as follows: “As the observance of this preparation approaches the feast, the penitential note grows progressively deeper and stricter.”
He identifies the five periods as:
1. The first period is this season of pre-Lent, from Septuagesima Sunday to Ash Wednesday;
2. the second extends from Ash Wednesday to Passion Sunday;
3. the third comprises Passion Week;
4. the fourth includes the days of Holy Week, from Palm Sunday up to Holy Wednesday;
5. the fifth consists of the Triduum Sacrum – the three Holy Days which are Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.
It is worth noting here that the Saturday before Easter day is called Holy Saturday, not Easter Saturday, which is the Saturday after Easter. "In the three days of the Triduum Sacrum, which are devoted entirely to the commemoration of the Lord's Passion, the penitential observance reaches its peak, until it ends (at the Easter Vigil) in the glorious and joyful celebration of the Resurrection."
We are now in the first of these five preparatory periods. Last week, on Septuagesima, we looked at original sin, today we will look at sins of commission, and next week at sins of omission. The aim of this reflection on sin through Gesimatide is to enable us to become more aware, during the other four stages of preparation, of our own sinfulness.
We should remember that the Gesimas were probably introduced as part of the Western Liturgical cycle by S Gregory the Great at a time of great distress, strife, and chaos in Italy. This sense of agony and helplessness can be glimpsed in the propers and lections. The point is that it was Pope Gregory who discerned a connection between a world ravaged and disordered by the Fall of Adam and the resultant sin and the realities of late sixth century Italy. The situation in which they were living was a direct result of the sin that surrounded them.
The emphasis therefore for us is on the need for a sense of sinfulness as Christians approach the penitential season of Lent. In his commentary on the lections for Sexagesima, Pope Gregory all those years ago, picked up the Lord's explanation of the parable. The work of the Devil is to frustrate the Gospel Word sown in our hearts. It is this that becomes the basis of Gregory’s attempt to stir up within his congregation an awareness of its sins and the need to do penance.
So what of the sins of commission?
A Sin of Commission is to know something is wrong... and do it anyway. From this we infer that a sin must be a voluntary act. A legal way of saying this would be, “Those actions alone are properly called human or moral actions which proceed from the human will deliberately acting with knowledge of the end for which it acts.” In other words, when we do something it is an act of our wills. We deliberately proceed with the action although we have knowledge of the effects of our action. Humans differ from all irrational creatures in this precisely that they are masters of their actions by virtue of reason and free will.
In this 350th year of the Book of Common Prayer, we do well to take a look at what is contained in the exhortation to Confession, and the confession itself, which is provided for the Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer. In the exhortation we hear the officiant say, “DEARLY beloved brethren, the Scripture moveth us, in sundry places, to acknowledge and confess our manifold sins and wickedness”. There is no argument in the prayer book that we a sinful people. The prayer book recognises that we need to acknowledge and confess our sins. The actual prayer of confession includes the following: “ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father; We have erred, and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against thy holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; And we have done those things which we ought not to have done; And there is no health in us.”
That is quite some list of the reasons why we sin: we have erred and strayed. God’s way of life is set out before us and we choose to do otherwise. We truly behave like lost sheep. Why do we do this? Because we follow too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We think we can behave as if we are independent. What we want becomes paramount. As a result we offend against God’s holy laws as we do things we should not, and conversely leave undone those things which we should be doing.
Further definition of these sins is given in the BCP confession contained in the Mass. For some reason this parish does not use the full confession, but rather that provided in the South African Prayer Book for weekdays. Part of the reason might be that we do not like to take sin seriously in this parish. The original says, “Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Maker of all things, Judge of all men: We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we from time to time most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings; The remembrance of them is grievous unto us; The burden of them is intolerable. Have mercy upon us, Have mercy upon us, most merciful Father; For thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ's sake, Forgive us all that is past; And grant that we may ever hereafter Serve and please thee In newness of life, To the honour and glory of thy Name; Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”
The important part for us to consider today is, “Which we from time to time most grievously have committed, By thought, word, and deed,...”
There is about our sin the fact that we continue in sin. We do not only sin once; it is a repeated aspect, ‘from time to time’, of our lives. Our sins of commission fall into three categories; thought, word and deed.
I am sure each one of us here in church can think of a sinful thought we have had today. You might even have been sinning in thought here in church – why does she insist on wearing those clothes; if I were God I would not let him into heaven; there is that dreadful person again, why don’t they go to another church? The list is really endless.
We do not only sin in thought, but also in word. What we say to people, or about people, can be deeply sinful. Don’t forget that simple Sunday School comment which says that when we point at somebody else, we have three fingers pointing back at us. We should watch our words. Not only can they be sinful, they can also be hurtful.
All of us move beyond sinning in thought and word. We actually do the sin. We lie, we cheat, we swear, we blaspheme, we harm and we destroy. Not a pretty picture! In his novel ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray” Oscar Wilde writes about a young man who is led into a life of debauchery and sin. At a point in his life a friend paints an exquisite portrait of him. He locks this work of art away from the eyes of those who visit his home. As his life sinks down the spiral of sin, it is amazing that he does not seem to lose his beauty. At the end of the novel we are shown the effects of his life of sin when the portrait is described. The ugliness is almost beyond our grasp.
Many of us would get a shock if we were to look into a Dorian Gray type mirror. The ugliness of our sin would shock us. God gives us a way of dealing with this sin. We have to confess it and get it out of the way. Our pride and self-righteousness often prevent us from dealing with our sin. Lent will provide us with a vehicle through which we can sort out this problem.
May God bless you as you reflect on how you will deal with your spiritual life this Lent.
