Rev. Dr. Merlin Rengith Ambrose –
The liturgical season of Lent is a call to the faithful for spiritual regeneration and a profound conversion of heart. Consequently, a deliberate orientation towards God and the diligent pursuit of penitential exercises are considered integral elements of Christian discipleship during this period.
“The sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin,” Pope Pius XII said in the wake of the horrors of World War II. Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis have all repeated it. At the beginning of 2014, during his morning meditations, Pope Francis, when referring to a famous phrase by Pope Pius XII, stated that losing the sense of sin is the evil of this civilisation, an evil that strengthens Christian mediocrity. It is thus clear that over recent decades, a culture of “I am not doing anything wrong” has been created as an undeniable expression of the lack of a sense of guilt regarding responsibility for one’s actions. It is all due to secularism and relativism, a negative effect of post-modernism. It is worthwhile to recall the words of Pope Benedict XVI shortly before the conclave that elected him, Pope. In that address, he accused modern culture of “building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognise anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one’s own ego and desires.”
Humanism Without God
Etsi Deus non daretur (As if God does not exist) seems to be the key principle that moves contemporary society. On many occasions and in various ways, it has been condemned by the approach of the Magisterium. “Secularism” is a movement of ideas and behaviour which advocates a humanism totally devoid of God, exclusively centred upon the cult of action and production, and caught up in the intoxicating enthusiasm of consumerism and pleasure, while disregarding the risk of “losing one’s soul”. This secularism cannot but undermine the sense of sin. At the very most, sin will be reduced to what offends man. But it is precisely here that we are faced with the bitter experience that man can build a world without God, but this world will end by turning against him.
Relativism and the Downfall of Moral Values
The sense of sin also easily declines as a result of a system of ethics deriving from a certain relativism. This may take the form of an ethical system which relativises the moral norm, denying its absolute and unconditional value. Consequently, it argues that there are no acts that are automatically wrong without considering the situation in which they take place. Herein, lies a real “overthrowing and downfall of moral values,” and “the problem is not so much one of ignorance of Christian ethics,” but ignorance “rather of the meaning, foundations and criteria of the moral attitude.” Objective truth and doctrines of the Church are taken for granted. This shift in ethics makes the idea of sin much weaker, almost suggesting that while sin exists, it’s unclear who actually commits it.
“Deadening” of Conscience
A famous popular proverb says: “he who has no conscience, has no guilt or learning.” This means that not being able to act morally and honestly impedes a person from having feelings of guilt and, above all else, diminishes any knowledge that he possesses. The moral conscience of many has become seriously clouded. The right idea of conscience does not exist. Modern man is threatened by an eclipse of conscience. When the conscience is weakened, the sense of God is also obscured, and as a result, with the loss of this decisive inner point of reference, the sense of sin is lost. This explains why Pope Pius XII declared, in words that have almost become proverbial, that “the sin of the century is the loss of the sense of sin.” The obscuring or weakening of the conscience comes also from several sources: i) from a rejection of any reference to the transcendent in the name of the individual’s aspiration to personal independence and glorification; ii) from acceptance of ethical models imposed by general and conventional consensus and behaviour, even when condemned by the individual conscience; iii) from the tragic social and economic conditions that oppress a great part of humanity, causing a tendency to see errors and faults only in the context of society; iv) finally, and especially, from the obscuring of the notion of God’s fatherhood.
“Extreme to Extreme” Approach
Certain trends within the Church’s thought and life inevitably favour a decline in the sense of sin. For example, some are inclined to replace the ecclesial attitudes of the past with other exaggerations going to another extreme: i) from seeing sin everywhere, they pass to recognising it nowhere; ii) from too much emphasis on the fear of eternal punishment, they pass to preaching a love of God that overlooks any punishment deserved by sin; iii) In trying to correct mistaken beliefs, some people show too much respect for personal conscience and ignore the responsibility to tell the truth. This transition reflects a move away from a stringent approach to correcting misguided consciences, opting instead for a kind of respect for individual conscience that overlooks the imperative of sharing uncomfortable truths. It should also be noted that the confusion created in the consciences of many faithful individuals due to differing opinions and teachings in theology, preaching, catechesis, and spiritual direction on serious and sensitive issues of Christian morals ultimately diminishes the true understanding of sin nearly to the point of eliminating it altogether.
Conclusion
The problem is not only how to bring to the surface the sense of sin but, rather, but also to restore or generate faith and moral principles in the hearts of men and women. The restoration of a proper sense of sin is the first way of facing the grave spiritual crisis looming over man today. But the sense of sin can only be restored through a clear reminder of the unchangeable principles of reason and faith which the moral and magisterial teaching of the Church has always upheld. The sin is real. Just because all one’s peers are having sex, taking drugs, using birth control, or having an abortion doesn’t mean that these things are OK. Such thoughts may ease our feelings of guilt, but they do not take away our moral responsibility for the choices we have made. We will have to answer to God for them. Our consciences need to recover the “sense of sin” so that we can take responsibility for our moral decisions and seek God’s mercy. The “sense of sin” refers to having an accurate conception of sin and an awareness of sin in one’s life. It is part of what is normally understood as “conscience.” Pope John Paul II, in his Apostolic Exhortation, “Reconciliatio et Paenitentia”, wrote of a “sensitivity and an acute perception of the seeds of death contained in sin, as well as a sensitivity for identifying them in the thousand guises under which sin shows itself. This is what is commonly called the sense of sin. This sense is rooted in man’s moral conscience and is, as it were, its thermometer.” May this Lenten season help us combat this sin of loss of sense of sin and introspect our conscience in order to return to God.
If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. (1 Jn 1:8-9).
Rev. Dr. Merlin Rengith Ambrose, a priest from the diocese of Kottar, is currently a professor of Canon Law at St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute in Bangalore and the Executive Secretary of the Commission for Canon Law in the CCBI.
